<h4>Chapter 289 A Leader''s Burdern </h4>


    ?During the group''s punishment, Commander Sable visited every single one to offer his condolences and guide them to forge a path ahead. It was tough for themander to talk to Erin and Bill who were hurting the most.


    Iris was Bill''s new girlfriend and Erin''s childhood friend. The connection they had formed with her was far greater than what Leon, Mako, or even Nathan had with her.


    In his many years of service and battles, themander had experienced his own fair share of losses, some that even he had yet to recover from and some he would rather never talk about.


    He had seen what could happen to people after experiencing extreme loss and excruciating pain, and he didn''t want that life to befall his students, not after what happenedst time.


    Thanks to themander''s several visits, Bill and Erin slowly began to heal as they opened up to themander after he shared some of his war stories with them and taught them lessons such as that they couldn''t always save everybody and that dealing with this loss and forging ahead will make them a lot stronger than ever before.


    *******************


    Mako, Leon, and Nathan on the other weren''t in such a bad state as Erin and Bill, but they were also far from being whole.


    Leon was still being hard on himself for always letting everyone around him down. He clutched up in thest fight where he was able to increase his speed, but that was pure luck.


    He couldn''t rely on luck to get him through even moreplex and tough situations where he could potentially lose another friend which was not an option for him.


    Leonmitted himself to improving every aspect of himself and honing himself to the absolute maximum so that he would be prepared for any situation next time.


    Thanks to all those resources that his father had provided him, he had ample resources and now time as well to really get strong and close the gap in power level between him and his friends.


    Even though Leon was being optimistic, Nathan was taking itpletely differently. In thest 3 months of his life, so much had happened that had made him question everything he had experienced up till this point.


    The way Mako and his other teammates treated him before, during, and even after the mission was over was very eye-opening for him to say the least.


    However, his inner self still remains reluctant to ept this as a reality and still wants to believe in his old ideals which were the cause of so much pain and agony for a very young Nathan.


    Out of all of them, Nathan interacted with themander, the least as his hate for the military was still evident in his heart despite themander''s best attempts to try and reach him.


    Nathan mostly remained in his room, only leaving for asional training and to eat food. He spent most of his time trying meditation which helped with him increase his perception even more and also the fact that meditation could help him find some answers that he knew were locked within himself.


    *******************


    Lastly, there was Mako who med himself for Iris'' death as he should have been a better leader.


    Unlike Nathan, Mako spent every possible second in the training room trying to make the guilt inside of his heart go away by training intensely but to no avail as the pain would never leave him.


    He believed that he was the reason for everything going wrong as he allowed his teammates to be captured while he was rxing at the hotel. It was only because of his weakness that they were captured in the first ce and it was because of his weakness that they couldn''t make it in time to save Iris.


    Seeing Mako''s state in his visits, themander decided to approach Mako differently as he wasn''t warm and caring when dealing with him to really teach Mako what it meant to be the leader.


    Themander agreed with Mako''s decision when he went against his orders and went to the hideout even though they were weaker and outnumbered. He wasn''t mad at him for that at all, he was in fact mad at Mako''s weak resolve to man up.


    In order to teach Mako a very crucial lesson, he apanied him to training one day during his punishment.


    At first, he only observed Mako as he warmed up which was basically himpleting his daily tasks and then he began practicing some of his skills that were still at a lower level so that he could level them up.


    Suddenly, while Mako was performing a me wheel with his stone sword, his sword instantly turned to dust midway through the swing as Mako felt like he had struck against an immovable object.


    He looked up only to find, Commander Sable standing beside him with a calm expression.


    "Mako... care to spar with me for a bit?" Themander asked him.


    The sudden request of course took aback Mako and was a bit hesitant as he didn''t know if themander was serious or not but as he watched him take off his coat and roll up his sleeves, he knew he meant business.


    "Please, feel free to go all out on me," Themander stated with a gentle smile.


    Mako took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the broken hilt of his stone sword, and nodded. He had trained tirelessly to prove himself, and now, he was being given an opportunity to do just that, even if it meant facing hismander inbat.


    The spar began with Mako conjuring another stone sword to which he added his fire aura to produce a ming sword.


    [ming Stone Sword has been created]


    Mako had been trying to resonate his other abilities together as well, but so far he had failed to resonate any of them sessfully and instead had just created a couple ofbinational skills.


    Themander responded by forming a small rod-like de in his arms that looked like it was made from diamonds.


    Mako had no idea whether this was an ability or some kind of power weapon, but he knew now wasn''t the time to specte as themander had already initiated his first attack.


    The two swords shed a couple of times with a flurry of swift movements before Mako''s second sword also met the same fate and crumbled into dust.


    Mako stared at the second broken hilt with disbelief as he couldn''t even fathom themander''s strength, once again feeling useless and weak. Frustration started to build up in Mako''s heart as he wanted to escape this feeling and so charged in at themander with everything he had.


    He struck with lightning speed and unleashed bolts of electricity in an attempt to catch Sable off guard. However, themander was a seasoned warrior, and he skillfully evaded Mako''s attacks, countering with precise strikes and fluid movements.


    He kicked onto the earth to lift several boulders into the air which he then kicked towards themander.


    Themander effortlessly destroyed all the iing boulders with his fist and as soon as he destroyed the final boulder, a stream of lightning revealed itself from behind the boulder ready to strike him, but themander was able to duck in time to dodge that attack too.


    "Clever..." Themander stated that Mako actually was able to make themander move from his spot.


    However, frustration and all the pent-up emotions from thest two months were now leaking from Mako''s heart as he now took it as a personal challenge to defeat themander so that he could prove his worth.


    Mako''s red fire aura red and flickered as it encased both his arms. He dashed in a fight themander in hand-to-handbat, hoping to at leastnd a couple of strikes but Commander Sable just danced around him, dodging every single strike and demonstrating a mastery ofbat that Mako had not yet achieved.


    It was clear that themander was holding back, allowing Mako to struggle and get even more frustrated.


    After themander could see that Mako was reaching his breaking point, he finally switched on the offensive andnded a light blow on Mako''s abdomen.


    The "light" blow knocked Mako back several feet and saliva came out of his mouth. He could barely stand but Mako had taken worse hits before, he wasn''t going to give up just yet.


    "So what do you think Mako? Do you think I made the wrong decision when I made you the leader?" Themander suddenly questioned while Mako was still recovering.


    Mako was caught off guard by the sudden question but the question nheless did make his anger rise.


    "Do you think, if you were a bit stronger, you could have changed the oue of what had happened?" Themander questions further.


    Now Mako''s eye''s widened with anger, his teeth grinded against each other, and breathing became short and quick. All the different thoughts in his mind of different scenarios of the mission started to y as Mako though about everything he could have done differently during the mission to make it a sess and so that everyone came home safe.


    "Do you think Iris would have med you for her death in herst moments?" Themander asked once again.


    Mako''s anger shot through the roof after he heard thest question.


    "SHUT UP!" Mako shouted as he activated a skill that he had begun charging ever since he received that blow.


    [Energy Stream has been activated]


    After a series of intense questions, Commander Sable decided it was time to deliver a powerful lesson. He gathered his energy and created a crystalline barrier in front of him that protected him from the massive green ray of energy that Mako shot out at themander in a fit of rage.


    The crystalline barrier absorbed the devastating move with ease leaving Mako bamboozled, but themander wasn''t done yet as a secondter, themander released the green ray that his barrier had absorbed back at Mako using only 10% of his true power.


    The force of the refracted green ray was enough to send Mako sprawling to the ground, his body sizzling from the heat and strength of the attack as the hit he just received was much more powerful than the attack he had actually released.


    Makoy there, panting and defeated, his body aching from the fierce attack.


    Commander Sable extended a hand to help Mako up and then began to speak, his voice filled with a sense of purpose and wisdom.


    "Mako, being a leader is not just about giving orders or making tough decisions. It''s about epting the consequences of those decisions, even when they lead to casualties. You cannot run from the me or the guilt; you must face them head-on."


    "I pushed you to your limits today to make you understand that strength alone is not enough. A leader must also possess unwavering resolve, the ability to adapt, and the courage to take responsibility for their actions."