Chapter 28
The day after the Stellaron Hunters' meeting, Firefly was running around the apartment, her face filled with excitement and joy. She looked like she was having fun, and behind her, a small figure was chasing after her.
"Come on, try to catch me!" Firefly exclaimed as she glanced back at young Elara, who wasn't that far behind.
It seemed she wasn't running at full speed, leaving Elara with the hope of catching her. After all, Firefly possessed superhuman abilities that far surpassed those of a five-year-old child.
After running for five minutes, Elara began to tire. Her breathing became uneven, and her chest rose and fell rapidly as though she wanted to inhale all the air around her.
Sweat began to form on Elara's forehead. Suddenly, her smile widened as she looked straight into Firefly's eyes and softly whispered with unwavering conviction,
"Don't move."
Her whisper reached the young woman. Firefly's body continued moving forward without any obvious change, but anyone with keen observation would have noticed something strange had happened.
Firefly's eyes widened the moment she heard those words. For a brief instant, her body showed a slight sign of resistance.
To her, it was almost nothing.
But for that resistance to come from a five-year-old girl...
It was an incredible feat.
She came to an abrupt stop and turned toward Elara. To her surprise, the little girl's face had turned completely pale.
Seeing her like that made Firefly's heart skip a beat.
But what shocked her even more was Elara suddenly collapsing.
Firefly vanished from where she stood and reappeared in front of Elara before she could hit the floor. The excitement and joy on her face disappeared instantly, replaced by worry.
The Stellaron Hunters had watched Elara from the moment she was born and had seen her grow up. After spending so much time together, it was only natural that they had all grown attached to her.
As for Firefly, with her kind and innocent heart, the little sister who sincerely called her "Big Sister" had quietly found a place within it.
Without hesitation, she picked Elara up, appeared inside the little girl's bedroom, and gently laid her on the bed.
Seeing that her face was still pale, Firefly quickly took out her phone in a panic and immediately called Kafka.
As the agonizing wait dragged on, a voice finally came from the other end.
"Yes, Firefly? What's wrong?"
Kafka asked calmly. At that moment, she was with Silver Wolf and Blade, finalizing their plan.
"Kafka!"
Firefly called out, her voice much louder than usual.
Hearing the urgency in her voice, Kafka instantly became serious and listened more carefully.
"Elara... she fainted... and she's completely pale."
She briefly explained the situation so Kafka would understand that something had happened.
Three seconds later, the other Stellaron Hunters suddenly arrived.
Each of them wore a different expression.
Blade frowned deeply.
Silver Wolf, standing beside him, looked visibly worried as her eyes immediately searched for Elara the moment she entered the room.
Kafka still wore her usual smile, but it lacked its usual playfulness.
She walked over to her daughter's bedside, removed her right glove, and placed a hand on Elara's forehead to check her temperature.
After several seconds of silence, she withdrew her hand and turned toward everyone watching her.
Her teasing smile returned to its usual playful appearance.
Seeing that, the others all breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, if Elara's own mother looked that calm, then it probably wasn't anything serious.
Silver Wolf stepped forward first.
"How is she? It's nothing serious... right?"
Although Kafka's reaction reassured her, she still couldn't completely hide her concern.
Firefly nodded in agreement.
"What's wrong with her?"
She asked while nervously clasping her hands in front of her chest.
Seeing how worried they all were, Kafka placed a finger against her lips, signaling everyone to stay quiet.
She silently left the bedroom.
The others quietly followed her.
They gathered around the table, their expressions filled with both curiosity and concern as they waited for Kafka's explanation.
"First of all, there's no need to worry. She's simply exhausted. After getting some proper rest, she'll be perfectly fine."
Her words immediately reassured everyone.
She allowed them a moment to calm down, especially Silver Wolf and Firefly.
Watching them, she couldn't help but chuckle as she remembered all the times Silver Wolf had argued with Elara. Despite constantly teasing the little girl, Silver Wolf had clearly grown attached to her, even if she would never admit it.
"It seems she exhausted too much energy... and it's not just physical fatigue."
Kafka quietly thought about the reason behind Elara's sudden collapse.
Without more information, however, she couldn't reach a definite conclusion.
Once everyone had calmed down, she turned toward Firefly, the only witness.
"Firefly... what exactly happened?"
Now the center of everyone's attention, Firefly took a deep breath before calmly recounting the events.
"We were playing. She was trying to catch me, but she couldn't. I noticed she was starting to sweat, so I was about to stop... but then she suddenly whispered, 'Don't move.' Right after that, her face turned pale, and she collapsed."
As everyone listened, their eyes instinctively turned toward Kafka.
Anyone with common sense could already guess what had happened.
Everything had occurred so suddenly that Firefly hadn't even had time to think about why it happened.
Kafka crossed her arms beneath her chest and smiled.
"Oh My... it seems my dear daughter has awakened her power. Who would have thought such a little girl would inherit the Spirit Whisper?"
She closed her eyes, still wearing her playful smile, as though she had just discovered something fascinating.
Just when everyone thought the explanation was over, Firefly spoke again.
"There's something else."
Everyone looked toward her.
"When she used her newly awakened power... I actually felt something."
She paused briefly.
"It was only for an instant... and very slight... but I definitely felt my body being restrained."
Silver Wolf suddenly shot to her feet.
"She actually affected you?!"
Even Kafka opened her eyes.
Their depth had changed as she silently considered the implications of that revelation.
"An entire planet has remained isolated from the rest of the universe for five years... Elio forbade me from approaching it until now... and at this exact moment, Elara awakens an extraordinary talent for my own power, precisely when he orders me to return her to her father..."
Kafka slowly closed her eyes.
"This isn't a series of coincidences."
"Someone orchestrated all of this."
Unlike everyone else, Kafka was far more skeptical about this chain of events.
Deep down, she was certain that someone, or something, was pulling the strings behind everything. She didn't believe in coincidences.
The only question was...
Who?
Or what?