"Evil Clark?"
Victor's expression turned strange for a moment. The phrase felt bizarre to him. It was the first time he had ever heard someone describe Clark that way.
If Clark had been standing here to hear those words himself, Victor suspected the reaction would have been quite interesting. After all, Clark always acted like the one protecting everyone else from danger. Hearing someone speak as if he were a potential destroyer might finally let him understand what it felt like to be treated like a ticking bomb.
"The legends your tribe spreads have nothing to do with me," Victor said flatly.
He had no interest in continuing this strange conversation.
Before Keira could say anything else, Victor's figure blurred. In an instant, he accelerated to nearly the speed of sound and disappeared into the distance, leaving only a few leaves swirling slowly downward in the wake of the powerful wind he created.
"I don't have the ability to turn into a wolf like you do."
Keira stood silently where he had left her.
A dry, yellow leaf drifted down in front of her face. She gently caught it in her hand while staring toward the direction Victor had vanished.
Her eyes were filled with hope, though her expression carried complicated emotions.
Long ago, the old woman who lived in the nursing home—kind yet distant—had once predicted Keira's future shortly before she died.
The warning had been simple.
Stay away from Victor and his brother.
Otherwise, misfortune would follow.
If misfortune truly was her destined path, Keira had already accepted it.
As long as she could help Naamah defeat Sergai, she was prepared to face whatever fate awaited her.
…
Victor finally understood why the transfer student had always behaved strangely around him.
Keira had been both close to him and cautious at the same time.
Her intense gaze—almost like someone searching for a living god—had made him uncomfortable for days without him understanding why.
The time spent in the forest testing his new abilities had taken longer than expected.
When Victor returned home, the afternoon sun was already beginning to drift toward evening.
"Victor, you're back?"
The heavy tension that had filled the house earlier was completely gone.
Clark stood in the living room with an obvious trace of pride on his face.
"Rickman just sent someone to cancel the contracts," Clark said. "Not just ours either. Several other farms had the same contract."
It was the first time Clark had experienced such satisfaction from helping people.
More importantly, he had solved the problem before Victor.
For once, he had handled everything cleanly and peacefully.
This time his younger brother would surely realize that problems did not need to be solved with brutality.
"Son, we don't have to move anymore," Jonathan said happily.
"The farm and the house are ours again," Martha added with a bright smile.
Clark briefly explained to his parents how everything had happened.
He mentioned that he had run ahead to Chloe's house because he was impatient, leaving his brother behind. After gathering information, he had disguised himself and confronted Rickman directly.
Clark described how Rickman had used his abilities to cheat farmers into signing the contracts, and how he had forced the man to cancel them.
Jonathan and Martha repeated the story for Victor.
Although they felt a little uneasy about Clark using his abilities, the thought that the meteor shower might have created many other people with strange powers reassured them slightly.
"You two must be starving," Martha suddenly said.
Now that the crisis had passed, she realized neither of her sons had eaten lunch yet.
"I'll make something right away. You still have time before school."
She hurried into the kitchen with renewed energy.
"Without your quick thinking and sharp analysis earlier, Clark wouldn't have solved this so quickly," Jonathan said warmly.
He patted Victor on the shoulder.
"You did a great job too, son."
Then he followed Martha into the kitchen, helping her prepare lunch as if the argument earlier that day had never happened.
The storm had passed.
Warmth returned to the house.
Victor knew Jonathan was deliberately comforting him. His father did not want him to feel left out simply because Clark had been the one to resolve the situation.
"Victor, why don't you seem very happy?" Clark asked.
He crossed his arms and looked at his brother curiously.
"Is it because I solved the problem before you did?"
Was Victor really that competitive?
"What's there to be happy about?" Victor replied calmly.
He glanced toward the kitchen where their parents were working.
"Don't you think Mom and Dad are too kind?"
Clark frowned slightly.
"The farm and the house already belonged to us," Victor continued. "Getting them back is the bare minimum."
Victor had always known his parents were kind people.
But sometimes kindness only invited others to take advantage.
"I don't think Mom and Dad are completely happy either," Clark whispered.
He pulled Victor slightly aside.
Just moments earlier, Clark had overheard their parents discussing something quietly.
They were thinking about reporting Rickman.
If Rickman could use his abilities to trick farmers into signing contracts once, he could do it again.
But they hesitated.
After all, someone had just threatened Rickman with the secret of his powers. If a report appeared immediately afterward, Rickman might begin suspecting the identity of the masked man.
Jonathan and Martha had decided to keep the idea to themselves for now.
"We could unite the farmers who were tricked and report it together," Victor suggested while glancing toward the kitchen.
"If several people report the same thing, it won't look suspicious."
Clark's eyes lit up.
"That could work."
He nodded eagerly.
"Knowing Mom and Dad, if this situation isn't properly resolved, they'll keep worrying about it forever."
Clark looked at Victor with a strange expression.
Victor suggesting a peaceful solution was completely unlike him.
Normally, Victor would have already crippled Rickman or worse.
Could it be that Clark's example today had actually influenced him?
Maybe Victor wasn't as cruel as Clark had always assumed.
Perhaps Victor's previous actions had only been desperate choices forced by difficult situations.
"If I keep my identity hidden from now on," Clark thought hopefully, "then Victor turning people into vegetables might never happen again."
The idea filled him with quiet relief.
What Clark didn't know was that Victor had already concluded the plan would fail.
"Without real evidence, the police might not take a report seriously," Victor thought silently.
And even if they did, Rickman was a billionaire with extensive influence and connections.
Taking legal action against someone like him would never be easy.
"With his abilities on top of that, the chance of success is almost zero," Victor concluded privately.
He had only suggested the idea to reassure their parents temporarily.
By tomorrow, the situation would resolve itself.
"Clark, Victor, lunch is ready," Martha called gently from the kitchen.
"Hurry and eat so you won't be late for school."
Victor smiled faintly and sat down at the dining table beside Clark.
After a few bites, he looked up and complimented his mother.
"The apple pie is even better than usual today."
Watching their two sons devour the food, Jonathan quietly wrapped his arms around Martha in the kitchen.
Warm afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the room in a gentle glow.
Running a farm could be exhausting work.
But sometimes people only realized how precious something was after nearly losing it.
They had barely rested all day, yet both of them felt peaceful and content.
"As long as our family can keep living like this," Martha said softly, "that's the greatest happiness I could ask for."
Jonathan chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm afraid that won't last forever."
"Sooner or later, our two sons will go off to college," he continued. "They'll get married and start families of their own."
Martha's eyes brightened.
"I wonder what kind of wives Clark and Victor will bring home one day."
"Ahem—"
Both brothers suddenly coughed awkwardly.
With their unusually sharp hearing, they had caught every word.
"Slow down, look at you two," Martha said with concern as she quickly brought them each a glass of water.
Her tone carried both worry and gentle scolding.
The house was filled with warmth once again.
....
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