A Bad Feeling

That night, they held a funeral at a small park near the apartment. Magnus had cleared the grass in the area while everybody else prepared a pyre. TJ lit up a wood stick and handed it to Matt, who then brought it toward the pyre. With his tears dried and his face marred with grief, he set the pyre on fire. The Wang mother and daughter looked on in sorrow as the flames ate away at Luna's and Mei's bodies.

After the cremation was done, everybody went to an apartment on the other side of the parking lot, right behind the one where the fight had taken place. They had chosen to take shelter in the new and bigger building because it was hard to move on and focus on training while being constantly reminded of all the deaths. Besides, the first floor had been completely wrecked and the front door was missing‒courtesy of Magnus.

The new apartment had five floors, but obviously they weren't going to occupy all of them. The families would mainly stay on the first and second floors, with the biggest room on the first floor acting as a place where they would sit down and convene.

It was also in this room that Magnus was talking to TJ when suddenly, the door opened to reveal a half-angry, half-unsure Matt. Like Lisa had been earlier that day, Matt must also be feeling like blaming Magnus for everything. But at the same time, he also knew that it wasn't anyone's fault. If anything, he should be screaming at the sky in fury, because the gods were the real culprits behind everything.

"Tell me, Magnus," Matt started, looking as if he would start crying again, "Tell me, what am I supposed to do now?"

It was clear the big guy was feeling lost. He had lost his father when he was younger, and now, with the loss of his mother, he had become an orphan. Which was a familiar sight to Magnus, since from now on, many children would become orphaned and many parents would have to bury their children.

Magnus didn't know what to say as a response. He knew that none of what he said would make the guy feel better. He understood very well the feeling of losing one's parents, after all. He could only look sympathetically at Matt and said, "Carry on. It's going to be hard, but it's the only thing you can do...that you can rely on. So that you...don't get consumed by grief and spiral further down in misery. It's what your mother would've wanted."

For a moment, Matt observed his own grief reflected on his friend's eyes. He wasn't sure whether that was the case or if Magnus was remembering his own loss that he'd gone through in the future. But considering the words he spoke and his tone of voice, Matt was leaning toward the latter. Who knew what horrible things his friend had experienced before returning to the past.

Meanwhile, TJ had moved further from the two and decided to give them a little more space to talk freely. However, he decided to stay in the room in case Matt got emotional and did something unreasonable.

Magnus saw his best friend keeping an eye on Matt like a good guard dog. It was a comical sight, as Magnus alone was obviously more than capable to prevent Matt from acting up. However, he still sent an appreciative look toward TJ.

"Say, if I quit from your Team, what would you do?" Matt suddenly asked.

Magnus had suspected that the question would eventually be brought up sooner or later, considering all the risks and dangers his Team members were exposed to if they decided to stay with him. However…

"I'm not going to stop you. But you do realize that putting down your status as a Supporting Character would just make yourself an easy target for the gods' picking, right? The moment you denounce yourself, the gods would try to pounce on you like a pack of hyenas surrounding their prey. And after that, who knows. You might end up going after one of us with the intention to kill. If that happens, you should know that I would not hesitate to end your life."

The moment Magnus voiced out such a possibility, a bad feeling came over him. Immediately, he casted [Unbreakable] and told his copy to set up the anti-god coating. He also imbued light element onto the dome so that the calming effect could help Matt stabilize his emotion and think rationally.

Matt was briefly startled by the appearance of the dome. But after recalling his friend's response, he looked down and sighed. It seemed as if he had already anticipated Magnus' answer. He was not an idiot; he knew that the price he had to pay for leaving Magnus' circle of protection outweighed the risks from staying with him. Despite all the dangers his friend was constantly attracting, at least Matt would retain his own emotions and more importantly, his free will.

With that, Matt finally decided to stay on the Team, because the alternative would be way worse.

It was then that an idea popped into his head. "Magnus, can you make me a Protagonist, instead?" he asked with an expectant look.

Magnus raised his eyebrows, definitely not expecting Matt to ever propose such an idea to him. 'Should I be honest?'

He considered lying and telling Matt that he had no more slot for a Protagonist after using them up for himself, TJ, and Summer. He didn't want to waste the fourth slot for someone who was already in his Team, after all. It would be kind of redundant.

But first, he had to ask, "Why would you wanna be a Protagonist? For your information, I don't treat Supporting Characters as less than Protagonists. I still give you stat boosts the same way I do to TJ and Summer. It's just that I chose them both to make it easier for me to delegate tasks and everything."

Matt nodded, understanding where his friend was coming from. "I know, but you can't control a Supporting Character's emotions, can you? You can only do so to your Protagonists, right?"

"...right," Magnus answered, dreading where the conversation was heading.

"Just make me your Protagonist for a bit. After that, you can demote me back to a Supporting Character."

"And...what would you like me to do with you during your time as my Protagonist?"

A somewhat unhinged grin formed on Matt's face. "Help me numb the pain. I don't think I can carry on like this‒"

"Absolutely not!" Magnus immediately denied his friend's request. "I promised myself I would never resort to manipulation, in any shape or form. At least not to my family and friends."

Matt didn't seem to show any hint of backing down. "It's okay. I'm giving you my permission. Please, Magnus. I need you to help me out."

Magnus firmly shook his head. No amount of begging would change his mind. "That wouldn't be me helping you. That would be me enabling an unhealthy means for coping with grief. It's counter-productive to your growth."

Matt didn't seem convinced. "Is it really? If it makes me cope faster and thereby helps me mute unnecessary thoughts while I focus on training, don't you think it would be beneficial to you and me both?"

Magnus crossed his arms. "I wasn't talking about your growth in powers."

Matt stared at him, a hint of resentment slowly growing in his eyes. "Or maybe you don't want me to grow too strong too fast? You still want us all to remain weak and therefore easy to control. Is that it?"

Hearing that, TJ, who had been staring out the window the whole time, whipped his head. He sent a death glare to Matt.

This time, Magnus didn't respond. He simply stared at the grief-stricken guy in silence. Matt spat out those words with such bitterness that it even failed to piss Magnus off. Instead, Magnus could only sigh.

Humans were able to say the worst things to even those they loved most when they were drowned in negative feelings. However, they never actually meant what they said.

Magnus sent Garrett a private message, asking him to come to the room. A couple of minutes later, the skinny guy knocked on the door and entered. "What's up?" he asked everyone.

Magnus smiled briefly at the guy before turning back to Matt. "Please get some sleep tonight. It's been a long and exhausting day. You've fought a lot of monsters and had to attend your mother's funeral. We'll talk again in the morning when you've rested enough."

The big guy looked as if he still had more to say, but eventually shut his mouth. His friend was right. He was too tired to be reasonable.

When Matt finally turned around to exit the room, Magnus nodded at Garrett, silently signaling for him not to let Matt be left alone.

After both teenagers left, Magnus slumped his shoulders and plodded toward the sofa. He plopped down and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling veiled behind the layer of his white dome. He was keeping it up because he still wanted to discuss everyone's gains with TJ.

"Dude," Magnus called out.

"What?" TJ replied.

"I've got a bad feeling."

TJ was silent for a moment, seemingly in thought. "I think I know what you're feeling. I also feel like there's going to be a few big changes in the future."

Magnus sighed. "Yeah. And I feel like I need to keep a closer eye on Matt. Anyway," he said, groaning while stretching his body, "Let's see how much everyone's improved."