Chapter 26 -- Pillars

"I'm so sorry , i just didn't want to disappoint you and I got nervous when I realized I couldn't hurt her. I thought maybe if was fast enough and built up enough momentum i would..." Team Cursed was surrounding a crying Mia that was on her knees, apologizing profusely.

Rocky was also there with a woman they could only assume was Mia's mother. She had a disappointed look on her face as she faced the ground in shame.

"What you did was very irresponsible and dangerous , you put your life as well as the lives of everyone here in danger." Laura lectured.

"I know and I'm sorry , I'm also sorry for wasting your time , i know i can never join the team after this." Mia sniffled.

Laura was conflicted, Mia was a wildcard, and that was the last thing team Cursed needed right now. Someone that unpredictable could be very dangerous, She might not follow orders, or worse.

'Well it's not like the current team is good at following protocol anyway ' Laura thought as a certain red haired male came to mind. Laura knew what it felt like to be in Mia's situation, the girl was talented and Rion was just like a big cage for her, so Laura thought she would give her a shot. Growing an unstoppable unit of super soldiers in the middle of a war was never a bad thing anyway.

"Michael, are you faster than her ?" Laura suddenly asked. Her question caught everyone by surprise. Michael had swiftly recovered after dispersing the foreign lightning in his body.

"It's actually hard to say, I use my lightning to enhance my speed by running on top of a thin layer of it which i control. Mia however circulates lightning through her body , the more she runs the faster she becomes. In a short sprint she can't beat me but in a long race she becomes faster. Her potential is amazing, if she trains this ability she might be able to reach the speed of light, or faster"

It was not weird for Michael to know more than his teacher when it comes to the lightning element. As a fellow lightning Cultivator, Michael understood how Mia used her power to get her speed and naturally knew the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Every Cultivator gets a certain understanding of their respective element as soon as they awaken it.

Laura nodded at Michael's answer before facing the still kneeling Mia. The lightning Cultivator was so ashamed at herself for her behavior. She felt that she let her mother and the whole village down, their saviours might even abandon the village after this.

"Welcome to team Cursed Mia" Laura said, causing Mia's eyes to widen in shock, and she was not the only one surprised as Rocky also had a dumbfounded expression on his face. Linda, Jennifer, Michael and Tina however where not at all surprised at Laura's statement. They knew that they could not leave someone like her behind.

Mia might not be strong but her technique had unlimited potential and the whole team knew that. The girls where kind of pissed off but did not show it. Michael was very pleased, as seen by the grin on his face , which he was trying to hide but failing miserably.

"Thank you, thank you so much i promise to to try my best to prove myself to you guys." Mia said gratefully.

"It's ok you are now part of us stand up let me properly introduce you to your new team" Laura proposed with a smile. She then first motioned for Rocky and Mia's mother to kindly leave, which they promptly did after congratulating Mia.

"First here we have Linda and Tina, Linda is the voice of reason for the group, she is the most mature minded. Tina is our long range specialist and also the female fun one" Laura announced and the team just looked at her with raised brows trying to suppress their laughter. They where probably all wondering what 'female fun one' meant.

"Next we have Jennifer over there, she is mostly responsible for earth related tasks like when we need to move underground. The guy over there is Michael he is..." Laura didn't get the chance to finish her statement as Mike started talking.

"Mike Caster at your service. I am the cool handsome one of the group as you can clearly see" Mike said , bowing in front of Mia and kissing the back of her hand, causing the vein on Jennifer's forehead to almost burst.

"Nice to meet you Mike" Mia greeted with a smile while wiping the back of her had on her shorts.

"Umm if I may ask where are the other two boys ?"

All of a sudden, the team, Mia included, felt a large fluctuation of energy coming from the forest, a few seconds later two large pillars of orange fire rose up to the clouds, illuminating the night sky for a few seconds before disappearing.

"Something tells me they are over there" Tina said , pointing in the direction of where the pillars where a second ago.

Laura's eyes and mouth hung open as she stared in the same direction

"Impossible !" that was the only word her open mouth managed to say.

About half an hour prior to Mia getting accepted into team Cursed. In the forest near Rion, Lex and Adam where jumping from tree to tree looking for their next target.

"Hey what do you think that blue light was" Adam asked.

"Im not sure its just that when in happened my head was about to be bitten off so i didn't get a chance to see it" Lex said sarcastically.

"Well I saw it, and it came from the direction of the village" Adam revealed

"Im sure it was nothing though, i mean if it was something important, Laura would have contacted us"

"Yeah you're probably right, let's just find this lion and breakthrough already, I can't wait to become a fully fledged rank two Cultivator." Adam said with a smile.

It didn't take long for the duo to find a solitary beast. With their teamwork, they quickly got rid of it , with Lex making the final kill. As soon as he did he felt like there was a hole inside his head and to breakthrough, he just had to fill that hole with his 'Force'.

The duo quickly found a place which didn't have any beasts nearby and prepared for the breakthroughs.

"Flame brothers for life" Adam said

"Flame brothers for life" Lex echoed

They then both filled the metaphorical holes in their heads with 'Force' and an intense wave of energy suddenly left them, before rushing back in with immense power, causing the duo to release loud screams as a pillar of fire rose from each of their bodies and pierced the sky.