Chapter 835: Hidden chaos

Speaking of Dragonborns, Michael first visited Umisu before he left to visit the Mermen. He wanted to see how she was feeling after that unexpected awakening.

He found her playing alone in the Baseball field, hitting balls thrown to her by a magical automatic pitching machine.

There was focus in her eyes, almost a somber or grim look in her face. This wasn’t the look of someone that had just recently awakened their Aubilities.

"Hey Umisu," he called out to her.

The green-scaled Dragonborn flinched, causing the ball to shoot past her.

"Sir Michael! I’m–I’m sorry!"

He gave her a bemused reaction. "What are you sorry for?"

"Everyone’s partying with the Werewolves...," she said, her head downcast. "But—but I don’t feel comfortable being around so many... people."

Michael walked towards her, asking to borrow her baseball bat for a second. And once the machine shot out a ball, he swung and sent it flying back into the air.

"It’s fine," he reassured her. "Sometimes, I want to be alone too. I spent a lot of time staying in my own room, not even wanting to leave my house for days at a time."

Umisu looked at him with shock. "Really? But... but you’re always working for us—for our Nation."

She never saw him relaxing. He was always away, doing everything he could to advance their ideology to the rest of the world. It was hard to believe that such an industrious man like him would be a shut-in.

"I was like that back then..."

...In my previous life.

"But now, I found myself becoming more and more active to the point where I wouldn’t recognize the man if I saw myself in the mirror."

It’s not just because he was in a different body. He was a different person entirely. He looked more like Jaku than he was now: lazy, unambitious, and with no direction in life whatsoever. But he changed.

"....how?" she asked, a hint of hope in her tone.

He chuckled. "I don’t know, to be honest. I just found what I wanted to do in my life."

Then, he turned and handed the bat back to her. "Maybe if you found what you wanted to do, then you won’t feel so awkward with other people."

Umisu grasped the bat in her hands, his words echoing in her mind. Her eyebrows furrowed, treating his advice as if it was some puzzle that she needed to solve.

"I don’t understand." She shook her head. She was never good at matters regarding common sense.

"Hahaha, you can’t think. You just have to feel," he said to her. "I mean, why are you asking me? You are the one who awakened a Diva without any kind of catharsis."

Fudge, Sheina, and Jaku all experienced a great turmoil in their emotional state before they were able to awaken their Divas. The life or death situation forced them to tap into the power hidden inside their hearts, allowing them to produce something that defied reality.

Even he had to experience some emotional breakthrough before he could awaken his powers.

So, he thought that each awakening necessitated the same kind of pressure to advance in Diva cultivation.

But as it turned out, he was wrong. That wasn’t the only way a Diva could awaken. Playing baseball was enough of a catalyst, apparently.

"How did you awaken? What did you feel?"

Umisu shook her head, straining her eyes. "I don’t know... I just felt... I felt..."

Her voice got stronger as she said those words, nose almost flaring, but in the end, she controlled herself and pursed her lips, choosing not to say anything at all.

"Can I see your Diva?"

Umisu hesitated for a little bit, before nodding her head.

Golden lights spun above her, forming the realistic, almost solid hologram of her Diva staying motionless in the air.

Now that he got a closer look, he noticed the markings of nature on the green egg’s surface.

"Graceful Calamity," he muttered. It fit her Talent perfectly.

The egg remained stationary. It was nowhere near the process of hatching at all. There were no cracks on its surface, preserving its natural designs. It was pristine.

This was quite strange because her siblings almost always cracked their eggs soon after they awakened their Diva. After that, their true Diva would break out of their shells, showing their true nature.

Michael was sure that another dragon-like hatchling was hidden under that egg. It just seemed disinterested in getting out.

Is it because she didn’t experience any emotional turmoil?

"Hrng.."

Michael took his focus away from the egg towards Umisu, who had her eyes closed and face fully scrunched.

With her hands balled up, scales almost turning red, she exhaled a deep breath and reversed the manifestation of her Diva.

The green egg turned back into golden lights that swirled out of existence.

"Haaa..."

Michael frowned as he saw this.

It was her. For some reason, she was holding back her own Diva from bursting out of its egg!

"Why are you holding back?"

Umisu averted his gaze. "It’s... it’s... it’s because I feel something inside me that’s... going to explode. I feel like if I don’t push it down, it would go out of my control... it’s going to hurt everyone."

Michael remembered that when he first met her, Umisu was mercurial in nature—quite prone to fits of explosive anger. She would stay silent most of the time, only to suddenly shout out her true feelings and leave everyone rattled.

But now, that tendency lessened. She became more tame. However, it came at the cost of her unique spark.

"Try."

Umisu looked up at him. "What?"

"Try unleashing that power to see what it can do."

She immediately shook her head, taking a step back. "No, no, no! I—I can’t!"

Michael chuckled. "What, you think you’re going to hurt me? And here I thought I proved myself to be reliable."

"It’s not that! It’s because... it’s because..."

Her words faltered. Even though she knew that Michael’s strength was beyond anything she could even imagine, there was still a part of her that thought that the chaos within her could overpower him.

Even if that was less than a 1% chance, she wasn’t willing to take it.

"Come on," Michael said provocatively. "Try me."

A shockwave of power emanated from him as he unleashed the power hidden in his heart. The invisible pressure that a 7th stage Maugnetic created ripples in the air, making Umisu raise her hands and cover her face.

Above him, lights shimmered as Harbinger manifested. His full upper body appeared in all its glory, white armor gilded with gold and a hint of red, nanoparticles pulsating within the surface, and its inner circuitry showing beneath the hinges.

And somehow, seeing Michael exhibit his full strength wasn’t scary. It was reassuring. He gave off an indomitable sense of safety, making her finally realize that Michael would always be there to support her no matter what happened.

Finally, she felt at ease.

"Okay... I’ll try," she muttered.

Umisu closed her eyes and released all the tension in her body, letting the chaos inside her start to brew.

The power building up within her was frightening, her instinct immediately wanting to suppress it down to the deepest depths of her subconscious. But suddenly, she felt a warmth spread throughout her body.

She smiled, knowing that Michael’s golden glow surrounded her with safety.