The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

The towering figure wrapped his arms tightly around her from behind, halting the supernatural power she was about to unleash. "Vivienne, don't hurt yourself." Vivienne Hawthorn blinked in surprise at the familiar voice before quickly grabbing the man in front of her. "Mr. Wolf, are you alright?"

Just as Percival Ellington was about to respond, a pained "Ouch!" came from behind. "Geez, kiddo, got yourself a partner and forgot your old coach, huh? I nearly got a hernia from that freaky thing, and you didn't even check on me?" Dawson was the first to dash in, and seeing the scene before him, he felt a lump in his throat, his annoyance nearly blowing the roof off. "Vivienne, how could you play favorites like this? Is our combined worth really less than his alone?" The other apprentices trailing behind saw their beloved Vivienne in a tight embrace with Percival, worrying over him intensely, and felt as if their already wounded hearts were stabbed yet again. And it was a deep stab indeed.

A stab that felt a hundred, no, a thousand times worse than any physical injury.

How had their Vivienne fallen for this man?

"Vivienne, my hand's injured. Check it out, will you?" Donald's voice broke the tension, prompting others to lose their patience.

Larry chimed in after, "Check what? You should check mine first. What's your injury compared to mine? I nearly coughed up blood, did I say anything?"

Eric added with a sigh, "Vivienne, my heart's racing. Am I about to die?"

The others: "...You win."

Jerry Perez was visibly frustrated. "Still arguing? We barely managed a simple barrier and almost got Vivienne hurt, and yet here you are, trying to take credit..."

As Vivienne turned her sharp gaze to Finnian, who seemed to find the situation amusing, it was clear she suspected him of stirring up this commotion.

Finnian chuckled, standing upright suddenly, his eyes still carrying his usual slyness towards Vivienne.

"Both sides of the hand are flesh, after all. Bringing them here to see the action is fair, isn't it? After all, we're all in this together, and it wouldn't be fair for you to hog all the glory and forget about your coach and brothers." Vivienne: "..."

Did they seriously think this was some sort of treasure hunt?

"Vivienne, don't be mad at coach. It was our idea to

of apprentices had he gathered? They never thought of him when it was time for credit but

didn't even tell us about such a big deal. Do you see us as outsiders? Even if we're

relieved to find no injuries on Mr. Wolf, finally

the absence of Leopold, she

"Don't worry, Thomas has found Dorian and the others. Thaddeus is

meeting Mr. Wolf's confident gaze, and sighed in

was comforting to have Mr. Wolf around. Dorian and Cordelia were important to

through the air, a voice enhanced with power declared, "Perfect timing. With all this supernatural energy around, I have enough to activate the Millennia Aegis." Everyone froze, turning towards

anyone else there, so absorbed were they in Vivienne's

crossing his eyes,

thinking a bunch of kids can stop me?

Old?

"Oh, if we're talking age, you've got me beat. With that face, you're older by a mile. In front of an ancient witch like yourself, I dare not claim to

his inner energy. Despite holding his own, the confrontation

her attack, determined to crush

was about to intervene when Percival, using his top-tier

lips curled

power and, with a flicker of movement, appeared before Finnian, delivering a devastating blow to his chest. Those who

the ultimate

in time

"Master!"