Chapter 243: Volleyball In The Beach! [Edited]

The three hours on the locked terrace passed with an ease Nicholas had not anticipated.

They did not discuss contracts, council mandates, or the threat of a rogue clone.

Instead, Selena had dragged out mundane stories from her early supervisor training, recounting the absurdity of managing ego-driven B-ranks who refused to file expense reports, while Nicholas offered deadpan commentary on how corporate bureaucracy was fundamentally less organised than an international cartel.

By the time the deadbolt clicked open from the outside, Selena was laughing—a genuine, unmasked sound that vanished into a sharp, composed glare the moment Katie popped her head into the doorway.

"Are you guys done?!" Katie asked proudly, holding up an empty juice box. "Marina says everyone should come to the beach immediately, or she will eat all the watermelon alone!"

"You’re lucky you’re cute, Katherine," Selena muttered, brushing past the little girl with her chin held high, though the lingering pink on her cheeks gave away everything.

....

The private cove of the Sovereign Crest Compound was an expanse of pristine white sand framed by jagged limestone cliffs and swaying palms. The turquoise water of the bay was calm, breaking in gentle, foamy swells along the shore.

Marina had claimed a large shaded cabana near the palm line, laying out woven straw mats, fresh platters of tropical fruit, and coolers of iced drinks.

Further down the shore, near the wet sand line, Katie was engaged in high-stakes construction.

"Nectron! You’re doing it wrong! You have to make the bottom hard first!" Katie ordered, dumping a plastic bucket of wet sand onto a towering, lopsided mound.

"Leo said that without compacting the base, the load will make the castle collapse!"

"I am compacting, boss," Nectron replied, sitting cross-legged on the sand in a pair of bright red swim trunks. The S-rank hero was carefully patting down the perimeter with a tiny green plastic shovel, his massive frame looking utterly ridiculous next to the three-foot-tall sand fortress.

A few yards away, Vixen had strung up a portable volleyball net between two wooden drift poles.

She wore a sleek, athletic two-piece swimsuit, tossing a leather ball between her palms.

"Nectron! Stop playing in the dirt and get over here," Vixen called out with a competitive grin.

"You promised me a three-set match."

"Duty calls, kid," Nectron said, pushing himself up from the sand.

He took one step backward, his heel catching on the corner of the moat. He lost his footing, his massive frame tumbling backward with an undignified grunt.

CRUNCH.

Nectron landed dead-centre on top of the fortress.

The three-foot sandcastle, the four guard towers, the carefully excavated moat, and the pink decorative shovel were instantly pulverised into a flat pancake of crushed sand.

Silence fell over the beach.

Katie stood frozen with her bucket in hand, her round eyes widening in sheer, apocalyptic disbelief. Her lower lip trembled, her cheeks puffing out into a furious, bright red pout.

"MY FORTRESS!" Katie shrieked, pointing an accusing shovel at the groaning titan. "YOU BROKE IT!

"

"Ah. Sorry, Katie," Nectron said hastily, scrambling to his feet and dusting wet sand off his back. "My footing slipped—"

Katie spun on her heels, marching straight over to the beach lounge where Nicholas was resting under a sun umbrella, wearing dark swim shorts and sunglasses.

She grabbed the hem of his linen shirt, tugging furiously.

"Big brother! Sir Nectron broke the fortress!" Katie demanded, her voice carrying across the entire cove. "You have to defeat him! Avenge me."

Nicholas slowly lowered his sunglasses, looking from his furious little sister to the guilt-ridden Nectron standing awkwardly by the destroyed sandpile.

"It was a mistake, Katie," Nicholas said with a small smile.

"No excuses!" Katie stamped her foot. "Beat him in the ball game! Squeeze all the points out of him! Or I won’t take candies from big brother anymore."

Nicholas sighed, pushing himself off the lounge chair. "Alright, alright!"

He walked over to the net, rolling his shoulders.

"You’re on," Vixen laughed, tossing the ball to Nectron. "Let’s see how that precision of yours handles this."

What followed was the most unnecessarily intense, unpowered athletic contest the Azure Archipelago had ever witnessed.

Nectron served hard enough to make the ball whistle. Nicholas moved before anyone else seemed to realise where it was going, stepping into the shot and sending it cleanly back over the net. Vixen barely managed to keep the rally alive before Nectron came crashing forward with a spike that would have sent an ordinary player sprawling. Nicholas met it at the net and calmly redirected it into Nectron’s chest.

THUMP.

The ball bounced off Nectron’s chest, landing in the sand on their side of the net.

"POINT!" Katie cheered wildly from the sidelines, jumping up and down with her plastic shovel raised high. "NICHOLAS WINS THE FIRST FORTRESS REVENGE!"

By the end of the second set, the three superhumans were covered in sand and sweat, laughing as they traded lightning-fast rallies under the sun.

Nicholas finally caught the ball under one arm, signalling an end to the match. "That’s twenty-one. The castle is avenged."

"You’re ridiculous," Vixen panted, grabbing a cold water bottle from the cooler and collapsing onto a lounge chair. "Who blocks a ball like they’re deflecting a knife?"

"A professional," Nicholas said, walking back toward the shaded cabana.

As Nicholas reached the cabana, Marina and Julie were already huddled together near the table, whispering like conspirators.

Marina looked up, putting on an expression of grave, theatrical concern.

"Nicholas, sit down," Marina said firmly, pointing to the wooden bench. "You’ve been in the sun for an hour. Doctor Cho specifically said your back lacerations will blister if they get sunburned."

Nicholas sat, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I can reach it."

"You can’t reach your own shoulder blades with that taped shoulder, and you know it," Marina countered, smoothly stepping aside. "Julie, hand me the—oh, wait, Katie needs me to cut her watermelon right now. Selena, darling, could you help him?"

Before Selena could process the trap, Julie snatched an oversized bottle of medical-grade aloe sunblock from the table and shoved it directly into Selena’s hands.

"Take one for the team, Supervisor!" Julie beamed, practically pushing Selena toward Nicholas’s back.

"We can’t have our star asset peeling like an onion! It’s terrible for the lighting!"

Marina was already herding Katie toward the fruit platter, giving Selena an all-knowing, mischievous wink over her shoulder as she walked away.

Selena stood frozen on the sand, clutching the bottle of sunblock like it was an armed explosive.

Nicholas was sitting on the low wooden bench, his back turned toward her.

Without his shirt, the scars across Nicholas’s shoulders and back were impossible to miss.

Some were fresh, still pink from Cho’s treatment; others had faded into the older marks that covered his skin. Selena’s eyes lingered on them for a moment before she quickly looked away and squeezed more sunblock into her palm.

Selena swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry.

"What are you doing? If you don’t want to do it, can I do it myself?" Nicholas said, his voice calm, not turning around.

"Shut up," Selena snapped, stepping forward with deliberate, forced professionalism. "I am preparing the application."

She squeezed a generous dollop of the cool, white lotion into her palm, rubbed her hands together.

Selena placed her hands against his back and immediately became aware of how close she was standing.

Nicholas’s shoulders tightened briefly at the cold lotion before relaxing again.

She tried to focus on the simple task of covering the exposed skin, but the silence made her increasingly conscious of every movement. Nicholas, meanwhile, seemed completely comfortable, which somehow made the situation even more irritating.

"You’re trembling, Supervisor," Nicholas murmured, his voice low and raspy. "Is the sunblock too heavy for an A-rank?"

"I am not trembling, brat," Selena whispered, her face rapidly heating up as she worked her thumbs along the tense muscle near his neck. "Your back is just made of solid granite. I’m trying to figure out if you’re human or a municipal statue."

"I’m flexible," Nicholas replied, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "You’re just being too gentle."

"You don’t get to critique my massage technique. Just keep quiet and be appreciative for once," Selena hissed, though she obediently pressed her palms deeper, working out the knot near his healing fracture.

She leaned in slightly, her breath brushing the back of his neck as her hands moved lower along his spine.

The playful bickering slowly faded into a thick, charged silence. Selena’s heart was hammering against her ribs, hyper-aware of every inch of contact, the sheer warmth of his body beneath her hands making her pulse race.

Nicholas didn’t move. He sat quietly under her hands, his eyes half-lidded, leaning subtly into the steady, careful pressure of her fingers.

For several long moments, the entire beach disappeared, leaving only the rhythm of the waves and the quiet heat between them.

Across the cove, hidden behind the beach umbrella, Julie had her camera peeking over the rim, snapping rapid, silent photos with a manic, triumphant grin.

Beside her, Marina took a bite of sweet watermelon, smiling softly at the pair on the bench.

"Phase one complete," Julie whispered, tapping the screen.

"Setting them up is quite fun!" Marina chuckled softly.