Chapter 86: Killing Intent

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Killing Intent

Cassandra stepped out through the main gates of the academy, the evening breeze fluttering through her short blonde hair.

She reached behind her neck, tying the strands back into a small, tight ponytail.

Dozens of eyes followed her every movement.

Her classmates, seniors, and random bystanders were all staring as she passed.

She ignored every single one of them.

She had long grown used to the lingering glances from both men and women, and honestly, she preferred their quiet staring over them trying to talk to her.

Her thoughts were already somewhere else.

Maybe I should ask Derrick to give me some private combat lessons...

A faint warmth brushed her cheeks as she daydreamed about training together, picturing his usual deadpan face while trying to coach her.

She had only walked about twenty meters away from the campus perimeter when she felt a subtle chill.

She could feel it.

A sharp gaze was locked onto her back.

Instead of turning around and making it obvious, Cassandra kept her head straight and casually looked up at one of the wide concave mirrors mounted above the street corner to prevent traffic accidents.

She finally saw who it was.

A man covered in a dark, oversized hoodie, walking at the exact same pace behind her. He had his head down and his face covered with a surgical mask.

She could not make out his face but she could feel something was wrong just from looking at him.

Is he following me?

She didn’t waste a single second trying to double-check or confirm her suspicions.

She pulled out her phone and texted Derrick immediately.

If it turns out to be a false alarm, I can just apologize to him later, she thought. Better safe than sorry.

She dropped her live location into the chat, put her phone away, and picked up her pace, turning sharp around the corner toward the main avenue.

"Wha—"

It was supposed to be a bustling commercial street, usually packed with evening traffic and commuters.

Instead, the road ahead was eerily deserted. No cars, no pedestrians, not even a single open storefront.

The entire block felt unnaturally quiet.

What is going on? Something is wrong, I should go back.

Cassandra stopped in her tracks, her instincts screaming at her to back away.

She turned around to head back toward the school, but the man in the dark hoodie was already standing right in the middle of the pavement, blocking her path.

Cassandra’s expression turned instantly cold.

"Move," she demanded, her voice firm and devoid of fear.

"We can’t do that," a rough voice echoed from behind her.

Cassandra spun around.

Two more men stepped out from the shadows of an alleyway, sealing off her only exit.

The man in the hoodie pulled back his fabric slightly, a mocking smirk playing on his cracked lips.

"Not until your brother gets here."

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed. She was not dumb to not understand what they meant.

They weren’t stalkers.

They were using her as bait to draw Derrick out into the open.

Cassandra had no intention of playing the helpless victim waiting for rescue.

The moment the words left the man’s mouth, her feet planted firmly into the concrete.

She unslung her heavy school backpack in a single fluid motion and hurled it straight at the hoodie-clad man’s face.

The heavy bag cut through the air like a projectile.

The man jerked his arm up to block it, his vision momentarily obstructed by the flying bag.

That fraction of a second was all she needed.

Cassandra channeled the full force of her Physical Strengthening Realm, letting the raw energy surge straight into her limbs.

BOOM!

The air cracked as she lunged forward, her speed exploding far beyond what any of them expected from a high school girl.

Her right palm struck outward, heavy and solid like a reinforced steel beam.

BANG!

The strike slammed directly into the hoodie-clad man’s chest before he could even re-adjust his guard.

Creackkk!

Thud!

The sheer Impact shattered his breastbone with an audible snap, sending him flying backward through the air until he crashed heavily against a brick wall.

"Cough! Spat!"

The other two men froze, their smirks vanishing in an instant.

She’s in the Physical Strengthening Realm?! Did that man lie to us?

Even though all three attackers were seasoned fighters at the peak of the Physical Strengthening Realm, Cassandra’s explosive speed and cold precision caught them completely off guard.

Her weekly training sessions under Keira’s brutal supervision had forged her reactions into pure instinct.

Even though she was not an expert at fighting like Derrick and Keira, she knew how to handle herself.

Cassie spun around on her heel, her cold blue eyes locking onto the remaining two men as her fingers curled into tight fists.

Loose fist breaks fingers. She kept reminding herself.

"If you think I will just go along with whatever plans you have," Cassandra said, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper, "you picked the wrong target."

"The information was wrong!" one of them shouted, stepping back as he watched his partner push himself off the broken wall. "She’s at least in the middle level of the Physical Strengthening Realm!"

Eh, Since when? Why didn’t I know? Cassie had only taken 10 pills till now.

So she knew found it unbelievable that she could be that strong.

But she had no idea how powerful the pills she took actually were.

The man in the hoodie spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the pavement, his chest visibly caved in.

A cold, vicious light gleamed in his eyes.

"It doesn’t matter," he growled, clutching his fractured ribs with one hand. "Did you forget, you two are also in the same stage as her and I am at the peak of the PSR."

"She caught me off guard, that’s all. I’ll handle her alone. You two set up the perimeter and keep your eyes open for her brother. He’ll be here any second."

Before the sentence even fully landed, the hoodie-clad man moved.

His body exploded forward, blurring into a streak of shadow as he unleashed the full power of a peak-stage cultivator.

A heavy, concrete-shattering fist whistled directly toward Cassandra’s face.

The pressure of the air alone whipped her short blonde hair violently against her cheeks.

Her eyes widened.

He’s too fast... I can’t dodge this!

An overwhelming instinct to close her eyes and brace for the impact surged through her mind.

But right before her eyelids could shut, Derrick’s cold, deadpan voice echoed sharp in her head.

Never close your eyes in a fight. The moment you go blind, you’re dead.

Cassandra forced her eyes to stay wide open while trying her best to force her body to move out of its way.

But it was already too late.

She watched as the massive fist surged closer, millimeters away from shattering her nose.

Then, in the next microsecond, the world seemed to stop.

FLASH!

A clean, invisible arc carved through the space between them.

The entire arm of the man in the hoodie simply vanished.

Blood erupted into the air like a localized storm, spraying across the grey asphalt before the man could even register what had just happened.

A second later, a cold, heavy hand gripped the back of the hoodie-clad man’s head, slamming him face-first into the concrete with enough force to crater the street.

BOOM!

The ground shook beneath their feet.

From behind the dense cloud of dust, a dark, low voice carried through the quiet block.

"Who gave you the permission to touch my family?"

Derrick stepped out of the haze, his eyes glowing with an unholy, pitch-black killing intent.