A Stubborn Idealism

Leo was still standing at the end of the side street, waiting for Ms Ves' return. It has been over an hour or two since she went into the building, and he hasn't heard anything or seen her come out.

He was starting to get worried and anxious. He nervously squeezed the hilt of Nightshade as he continued to look at the building, with his anxiety building.

He was still anxiously waiting when he heard a loud guttural roar come from the building, and he instinctively gripped Nightshade tightly.

"It seems she turned completely."

He heard Tatiana's voice beside him and it felt like his heart fell to the bottom of his stomach.

He didn't need to ask to understand who she was talking about. His grip on Nightshade's hilt tightened as he clenched his teeth in anger.

He has no idea what caused Ms Ves to turn completely but he felt somewhat responsible for it.

He glared at the building and without hesitation, made his decision as he started walking towards it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tatiana asked with narrowed eyes, as she appeared in front of Leo, stopping him in his track.

"Going in there," Leo replied as he tried to take another step, but Tatiana was still blocking him.

He turned to walk around her but Tatiana was already in front of him again.

"You're going in there? Can't you see the number of zombies hanging around outside the building alone? Do you really think that you can take them all on?

Even if they are normal level 1 zombies, don't underestimate their collective strength. Even if you have a weapon, you're still nothing against them. You're weak," Tatiana said with a cold voice, as she looked him deep in the eyes.

Leo closed his eyes briefly and tightened his grip on Nightshade's hilt, when he heard what Tatiana said.

He knew that she was right. He was weak, he didn't need someone else to tell him but how can he stand and watch Ms Ves go down that path. He has to do something about.

He looked at Tatiana who was still blocking his way and said coldly, "Out of my way."

Tatiana scoffed when she saw this. A mere mortal who was still a normie a couple hours ago dares to tell an Exalted being as herself to get out of his way? Laughable.

If it was in her world, she would had killed him ten times over. And if it wasn't for the fact that Leo is someone special, she would had killed him right now and have her father take care of whatever trouble comes later.

Her eyes turned cold as she looked at Leo, and the air around her chilled.

"Tell me, Leo. Say you get past all these zombies out here and in there, what do you plan to do when you get to her? Talk to her? Don't make me laugh. You would have already been shredded apart before you would even get a chance to say a word.

Do you think you can save everyone? Do you even have enough strength to protect everyone and save yourself? You think because you're somewhat special, that you're invisible? You're not," Tatiana said in a cold voice, and her voice got so cold that the air around her started freezing up slightly.

"You're not the only special one in the universe. There are people who were even more special than you but they died before they could realize their potential. If you think it's only zombies and mutated animals of your world that you're going to be facing in the future, then you're horribly wrong. The awakening of a world follows with a lot of chaos and there's no escaping that chaos for you."

Leo smiled coldly at Tatiana's words. He wasn't bothered by the freezing air around him as he looked her directly in the eyes.

"You say all that because you know nothing about me. Arrogant or not, weak or strong, special or not, I don't give a fuck. I do things my way. I protect those I care about and that is never going to change.

If I go in there and Ms Ves has truly completely turned into a zombie, and there's no way for her to turn back, then I will take care of her myself. She took care of me, care for me and loved me as her sibling, I won't allow her to be killed by someone else like a monster. And I'm sure that she would want the same," Leo said, as his grip on Nightshade's hilt tightened even more.

It felt like he was going to crush it with his grip but his strength wasn't enough to achieve that.

He looked at Tatiana who was still standing in front of him and took a step forward, and said coldly, "Now, get out of my way."

Tatiana glared daggers at Leo. She saw that he wasn't going to change his mind and she decided to leave him to his own device. whatever happened to him in the building wasn't going to be any of her business.

She looked at him one more time and said, "You're weak, Leo, and you're going to get yourself killed. But... if you insist on doing this, don't expect anyone to save you. Survive and become stronger for your world is about to be turned into a warzone soon."

After saying that, she disappeared, followed by Elda.

Leo didn't bother wasting time as he looked at the building and started walking towards it

"Time to test your abilities, Nightshade," He said as he turned to look at a lamppost shadow cast beside him, that stretched to the entrance of the building.

[Shadow Steps: use the shadows around you to move unseen, teleporting to another shadow within range (max: 15 meters)]

He took a step towards the lamppost shadow and immediately, the closest zombie roared and charged towards him.

Leo wasted no time as he activated one of Nightshade's skills, and stepped into the shadow.

Instantly his body melded into it and Leo saw him himself in a different space, darkness enveloping him.

But strangely, he was completely aware of his surroundings. He could see or better word, sense everything close to the shadow but when he felt his senses dull when he tried to extend it farther.

The zombie that sensed Leo's life force arrived at the location where the life force signature we coming from, but there was nothing in front of him.

It sniffed around, it could still sense the life force but it couldn't see its prey, and it roared in anger.

Leo heard the roar of the zombie from the darkness and was a little nervous. He didn't know how the [Shadow Steps] works but he was relieved when he saw that the zombie couldn't see him.

"Nice skill but it's a mana vacuum," he said as he looked ahead. Just a single activation of the skill has shaved off 20 mana points from his mana pool.

He saw the entrance of the building, and he bolted towards it without a second thought.

Arriving at the end of the shadow, at the building's entrance, he exited the shadow, deactivating the skill. With a fluid movement, he slashed the lone zombie standing at the entrance door.

A system notification popped up but he didn't pay attention to it as he pushed open the door and walked into the building.

Immediately after walking in, he didn't bother with the zombie rushing towards him as he stepped into another shadow. He came for Ms Ves and that's his priority.