Asher felt like his whole world stopped. His pupils heavily dilated for a second, unbelieving the information he was just. But with each passing nanosecond, Jayline's arrogantly superior tone boomed around his head.

It was such a simple phrase, 'hanging out with the wrong people.'

But Asher almost immediately understood the hidden meaning behind that message. And as his mind became clearer on it, his eyes promptly gained back its focus. 

His eyes dangerously narrowed in on Jayline's face as Asher's general aura turned deathly chill. For a moment, a sharp breeze passed through both Asher and Jayline's bodies.

With his eyes boring a hole into Jayline's face, Asher began to talk slowly and threateningly. He spoke each of his words clearly, wanting it to drill into Jayline's head.

"Wrong kinds of people….tell me right now. What are you little shits planning."

In all of Asher's life, he rarely would feel such a rage. Even though he kept on fighting with the Kane Gang, they never did something that had warranted him to get genuinely angry over.

Most if not all of the time, it was just annoyance from getting provoked or him wanting a decent challenge.

But now….Asher wanted to genuinely crush anyone from the Kane Gang.

Jayline, who was calmly smirking throughout this entire time, suddenly went rigidly stilted. Though he knows and can sense he is massively stronger than Asher would ever be, there was something unnerving about his current gaze.

This abrupt mood shift unknowingly caused slight nerves to tense Jayline's body. To release this kind of rage-fill aura on a snap was something Jayline couldn't ever expect.

For a moment, Jayline honestly didn't want to stare into Asher's current expression. But almost immediately, he snapped himself out of that trance.

No matter how angry Asher was, he's still far beneath him! He has a power that was untouchable for Asher; there's no way this kid could ever make him feel nervous!

Right then, a cold glint sparked within Jayline's eyes. He pushed down any slight nerves and matched Asher's gaze.

His tone was the same calm and even, having no hint of edge in his voice. "Your friend's name? Reese and Kylee, right? Normally, we wouldn't bother ourselves with the common bunch unless we wanted to or we wanted something. But those two? Don't you think they're way in over their heads by associating themselves with you?"

Quite honestly, it wasn't like Asher didn't expect some trouble would come if Reese and Kylee continued to hang out with him.

But though he could say he was expecting it, he just couldn't keep a lid over his emotions.

Reese, Kylee, and Elsa all have profound places in Asher's mind that couldn't be forgotten. They were something his family certainly never provided for him.

Asher wanted to keep his emotions in check but nearly failed as he practically spat out, "Get to the point."

Jayline only wrinkled his eyebrows a bit as his Magical Aura started to subconsciously increase just a little bit. Though it didn't affect Asher's mood, Jayline continued on to say,

"Look, all we want to do is correct the misconceptions you and those two have by making sure they know they're placed well in the world."

With each passing word, Asher's moods only considerably fell. His eyes never left Jayline's eyes as he began saying,

"I see….I get the gist of it. Heh…."  A chilling chuckled leaked from Asher's mouth. "You all really think for as long as you live, you can keep on doing just whatever the hell you want without any consequences."

Jayline tried his best to keep his smirk from faltering.  That cold, chuckled Asher leaked out didn't sound anything like him.

Still, Jayline said with the utmost bravado, "We act this way but….so do you no? For all the times you engage with us, I know you're not that naive to believe there would be just zero consequences for your actions. The previous years had just allured you into a false sense of security."

Asher didn't respond to the blatant provocation and remained silent. He really didn't need to be told twice that between him and the Kane Gang, the way they act may seem similar but holds two entirely different intents.

Asher only acts without restraint to the ones continually provoking him and doesn't even pursue when he has dealt with the problem.

The Kane Gang, on the other hand, truly believed they have a higher order in the world that allows them to act within free reign.

No matter how smoothly Jayline tries to frame it, there's a clear-cut difference between him and Asher. And seeing Asher coldly silent to his provocation, Jayline only knitted his eyebrows.

His tone massively dropped as he began to say, "Look, you either contact us and propose to join our gang. Or, when the Potential Assembly happens, I'll personally crush Reese and Kylee at the same time. I will unhesitatingly shred whatever meager confidence you had built up in them and show them what the real world is like."

At that statement, Asher's rage had nearly boiled over. As he was about to open his mouth to savagely tell this wannabe gangster off, he felt something pull him down, forcing him to calm down.

The pull felt so familiar to him, and Asher knew immediately who it was. But he didn't care why she was doing it.

He just wanted Yuki to let him go right now!

And right when Asher was about to shout at Yuki, she had suddenly spoken up.

Her voice was calm and serene, having no surging emotions leaking out of her. But there was a certain steel to it that forced Asher to listen to her as she said,

"Do not lose all of your cool now. These little rats will only potentially do something worse to your friends if you show even more resistance. Just let them believe they're in total control for now."

As much as Asher wanted to argue, whatever Yuki was doing to him prevented him from making any overly rash decision.

If he really wanted, Asher felt the boiling energy inside of him would be enough to break her restraint.

But Asher decided against it. As he was being held back, the rational part of his brain gradually overtook his irrational side. And the more he thought about it, the more Yuki's word made actual sense.

With how overbearing the Kane Gang are, he didn't doubt for a second that they could go potentially overboard to the point of no return.

And since Asher was so silent, Jayline took that as a sign of victory.

His smirk turned even more grossly arrogant as tremendous disdain sparked within his eyes. Without saying anything, he had then reached into his pocket and pulled out a white card.

Asher curiously raised an eyebrow and had then raised his hand to catch the white card as Jayline flicked it over to him.

As he caught the card, Asher's pupils immediately dilated. The Magical pressure on him had significantly increased!

Asher felt it was difficult to breathe, and it was tough to move his body. Against this kind of sudden power, he found it challenging to remain calm and cold.

The glare he had at Jayline only intensified in rage. Inside his chest, another rare emotion was bubbling up.

The intense sensation of hatred!

Asher could count on one hand the number of people he genuinely hated. But in no time at all, Jayline had swiftly climbed the ranks of Asher's hatred.

Jayline took absolute glee in Asher's inferior position. It was about time this overconfident kid finally realized who are the top rulers in their society.

With a smug tone, Jayline told Asher, "On that card is our contact info. For such a huge decision like this, you have until the Assembly begins to come to a decision. And if you don't….well, you know what will happen. A pleasure talking with you, Vipond."

Jayline had utterly looked down on Asher in every aspect. His overbearing Magical Aura just proves more and more that Asher is nothing but an insect to him.

Even as he has beaten Zara and the Boss wants him to join, Asher won't be anything praiseworthy in his eyes.

And without waiting for his response, Jayline walked past Asher. When he got within inches from Asher, Jayline suddenly whispered into his ears.

"Oh. And you better not run off and warn your friends. If they're aware and don't come to the Assembly. Well, things will only be far more disastrous for them."

With those departing words, Jayline continued to walk off, leaving Asher with only a cold snort to boom around his mind.

Left standing alone, a multitude of emotions was chaotically swirling in his mind.

And the biggest emotion affecting his mind the most was a searing, burning rage! He tightly gripped his fists until a bit of blood began to leak from them.

From Elsa's information, the Potential Assembly is happening within just two days!

And in these two days, Asher couldn't think of any way to grow massively stronger. It was quite literally impossible to grow in such a short amount of time.

Furthermore, from Jayline's Magical Aura, Asher knows he's massively outclassed.

If they were to fight now, Asher was sure he would just get brutally beaten without even a chance to resist. As he frantically tried to come up with any silver linings, a sharp pang jolted his entire body.

Asher jumped up, feeling his mind clear up a bit. And right then, he heard Yuki say,

'Get a hold of yourself, Asher! You won't let these brats do what they want, right?!' Her firm shouts started to ignite a raging fire within Asher.

With his mind torn away from depressive thoughts, Asher suddenly became rigid. And a second later, he took a deep breath and started to talk to Yuki.

'Yuki, I don't know how, but I need to be massively stronger. When I fought against that masked creature, I had experienced sudden enlightenment on my Ghost Lightning Powers. I don't care how deadly the mission would be, but I need a mission that will tremendously increase my powers right now.'

Yuki went silent for a second. On the secluded streets, the passing silent second was near deafening for Asher.

But, immediately in the following second, Yuki started to talk. This time her voice was incomparably serious, carrying a majestic grace that could put anyone in a trance.

'Well then….seems like we really need to get far more serious. Alright, look, we already got a way to gain a massive power boost. Your date with Elsa tomorrow, focus entirely on that and nothing else. Make sure you both have a great time. Because the day after….it will be one of your most grueling.'

'Ding!'

A ping went off in Asher's body as he had received a mission. Looking into his mental scape space, he had read, 'Have a successful date with Elsa to make her kiss you on the cheek. Rewards: Major increase in Positive Aura. Major increase in Spirit Aura.'

'Haaah….' Asher leaked a big sigh, feeling entirely mixed on this mission. 'I really don't intend to use Elsa for powers. Even without this mission, I would've just put this issue to the back of my mind for our date.'

'Well, now, you just have extra incentive to make that little girl a blushing mess under our palms!' Yuki's tone turned back to her charming, jovial one.

And her upbeat, joking tone brought Asher's mood a little bit back up.

He had then said, 'For tonight, I'll cultivate all of my abilities as much as I can. And then, I'll get a good short rest so I can be at my best state for Elsa. Thankfully my System's soul is helping with needing less sleep.'

'Or you're just a crazy hard worker. Now let's head on home.' Yuki joked again.

Asher smirked and began walking with a brisk pace in his step. He was feeling a crushing bad omen about that talk. But now, he was more determined than ever to thoroughly crush the Kane Gang.