Yi Xiao stood up with incredible vigor and began walking away from Nari Sariel really quickly. With a look of concern running across her face as she could hear the quiet sniffles of her nose and mouth, Nari stood up and began to tail her. Turning around with a sharp look of disgust across her face, Yi Xiao would stare at Nari Sariel before confronting her.

“Hey, why are you following me to the restroom? Can’t you just give me some personal space?!”

Yi Xiao sighed as she stared at Nari’s face instantly light up red in shock and embarrassment and she rose her hands in protest to what she had said. In a desperate attempt to prove her innocence, or rather the innocence that she believed herself to have.

“Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable but I didn’t know that you were going to the restroom! The reason why I was following you was because I assumed you needed some emotional attention since you were crying earlier and I thought I said something emotionally insensitive to you and as your friend, I can’t help but stand up for you even if you can’t stand up for yourself.”

Yi Xiao stared at Nari Sariel as her once distrustful and tense face softened up into a look of shock as tears continued streaming down her face for Nari to see…

‘She noticed that…?’

Yi Xiao quickly turned away from Nari to prevent her teary face from being exposed to her. After all, if she was exposed a crying loser, she wouldn’t be able to keep the face and respect that her fellow student would have expected out of her as she sought to serve as a role model at the very apex of what a skiller Hunter can do in battle.

With her back still turned against Nari Sariel, Yi Xiao wiped her tears with the sleeves of her black t-shirt before glancing at Nari with a sharp side-eye.

“It wasn’t tears. It’s just that dust was in my eyes so I can't see as well.”

Yi Xiao continued her trek to the restroom as Nari continued pursuing her before tugging on her sleeve.

“You can make excuses all that you want but at the end of the day, I want you to stay safe and honest to yourself! And this belief of mine goes for all people but for someone like you who is my friend, I cannot allow you to destroy yourself so recklessly… Even though we’ve barely known each other, I still care for you so if there is anything that you need…”

Nari’s words trailed off into a dramatic silence.

“We can always talk.”

“Sure.”

Nari quickly and suddenly grabbed on to Yi Xiao’s stomach with her hands, enveloping her entire body tightly. Due to the great desparity in strength between the two, Yi Xiao could have shaked her off at any moment, but she did not… Even as things were getting awkward as they motionlessly remained outside of the female restroom, Yi Xiao respected the compassion that she had lived by.

Before eventually pulling her off as the hug had lasted for longer than it should have been.

“If you care for me, acknowledge me as a friend and as arrival not a teddy bear.”

Nari loosened her grip around Yi Xiao before ultimately pulling back entirely. Yi Xiao thankfully would manage to leave the uncomfortable and unexpected situation as she entered a toilet of the female’s restroom where she would sit up on only to contemplate with a thick stream of relief making it out of her lips.

‘Fuck… She’s way too much of a Saintess than I gave her credit for…’

Yi Xiao soon left the toilet before walking her way up to the restroom sink where she glanced at herself in the mirror.

“This isn’t you Yi Xiaodan.”

An image of her appeared in the mirror and began talking to her.

“You shouldn’t be so soft anymore. After all it was that softness and mercy which resulted in your brother’s punishment.”

“I know that… I know…. But isn’t it right to

Nari loosened her grip and Yi Xiao pulled out from Nari’s tight hug and entered the female restroom. She sat on a toilet and sighed…

“Fuck… She’s way too much of a Saint than I expected her to be…”

Yi Xiao said as she turned around and wiped her tears with her hands before pressing them up on her face with a defeated look.

‘Nari Sariel. Nari Sariel. Nari Sariel. I hope there will never be a day where we will have to cross swords because you are a Hero unlike I am.’

After the momentary commotion, Nari turned back to Erin and Noah who had been at the ring of the sword arena. The two had been resting on the side while waiting for Nari to return. Erin had a look of confusion and concern on her face and so did Noah but Erin had been the first to say anything.

“What was her whole deal?”

Erin bossilly asked with her hands up to her hips.

“It wasn’t as bad of a problem as I thought it was. It was just that Yi Xiao had some dirt in her eyes so she’s just going to wash up.”

Erin nodded while staring at Nari. Even though she had nodded, not a single though in her mind had trusted the clear and obvious lie of Yi Xiao as there was something else to this. Something that she had been hiding from the two of them.

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And perhaps Nari played a role in hiding her secret but even still, it was a secret that she was dying to find out considering her role as vice-president of the Nari Sariel fan club, second only to Nari’s mom and dad who both held the role as Presidents of the Nari Sariel fan club in addition to the special super donor sponsor of the Nari Sariel fan club.

Several moments of silent waiting occured as the three waited for Yi Xiao’s eventual re-appearence to the scene. With the tap of her shoes, everyone could feel it as they could see her silhouette marching back into the sword arena.

“Let’s not waste anymore time and let’s fight!”

“Let’s do our best to prove our strength to Yi Xiao!”

Nari cried out as Noah and Erin had followed her on her sides as they all clenched their swords. Yi Xiao chuckled as she stepped into battle slowly before leaping to her right to confront Noah who had always been the meekest and most vulnreable part of the trio.

With a vertical swing of her sword descending from the Heavens, and a horizontal parry of his blade swinging up towards the sky, the two of their swords had met before breaking apart as the two leapt away from one another. Both parties knew that it would prove disadvantageful to continue battling in the short term so it had been best if they were to think of this battle as a struggle for the long term. Rather than short assaults, it would be be better to think several actions ahead…

As if Yi Xiao had remained in combat, it would have allowed an opportunity for both Erin and Nari to attack while Noah would be continued to be overwhelmed by her strength and if his sword had ever been shattered during any point of the intense battle, the trio’s fighting power would be severely limited. But the intent of this light sparring had served well to allow both combatants a test and a feel of one another’s power.

In Yi Xiao’s case, she realized that Noah was far stronger than he seemed to be even when he wasn’t using his unique fencing style. But in Noah’s case, a grimace formed across his face as worries ran across his body.

‘Her strength it’s ridiculous! It’s like fighting someone as strong as my brother!’

Yi Xiao continued her rampage against Noah with a dozen cuts, clashes, thrusts and all manner of attacks heading towards his general direction.

[Flashback]

As he swung I swung my sword with may swift and rapid repetition, the steel sword eventually break as my brother glanced at me coldly with the eyes of a viper. His left hand was coated in the long white sleeves of his lengthy silvery white trench coat while right hand was held mere inches above my neck as a karate chop. As he stared down upon me, I could feel the pure aura of disappointment building up over me, a failure of a younger brother.

Despite the fact that we were siblings born to the very same parents, circumstances and upbringing, I was always compared to him. And that alone would have been one thing to be compared to my older brother but even if the playing field was leveled or even if I had been given an unfair advantage against him, I would always come short of his accomplishments and the expectations that others and myself have placed upon me.

When he was five year old boy, my older brother was capable of slaying a goblin that escaped from a dungeon when the hunter extermination team had failed to notice it. Slaughtering it with his bear fists to come back home victorious and triumphant.

But for me, my first kill would be a slime when I was 12. Slimes were well known to be some of the weakest beings in the world even despite their formless nature, the fact is that they are easily killable because of their obviously exposed glowing crimson cores that anyone could have broke. But despite having iron weapons, I couldn’t be capable of piercing and breaking the slime despite my best attempts.

When he was six, he was perfectly capable of comprehending and using a masterful sword technique that I would only be able to do at my current age of fifteen. When he had been seven, he had been fully capable of recanting the classics such as Shakespeare while being able to be a genius capable of playing the Piano like a prodigy. But even if I tried and dedicated my entire life to beating someone like him, it was all for naught…

Eventually with time my older brother would become America’s youngest professional hunter at the time and using the money he acquired from hunting, he would go into university to study Law and graduate quickly before coming back out into the world as a Police Officer…

Following in his large footsteps, I came to the realization that there were some mountains in the world that we unable to climb. And even if I had pulled every trump card that I had, I doubt I would even be able to entertain his great and overwhelming power.

“Is that all you had?”

My brother groaned exhausted as I came to the realization that I had been attacking him for the entire day without a single inch of damage being dealt to him. Despite all my efforts it was pointless. Even the Cold-Steel weapons I had purchased were useless. It had taken me years upon years of working part time jobs of being a porter in various dungeons to acquire the money necessary to acquire these weapons but it was worthless in the face of a master.

These Cold-Steel weapons produced in the German Rhine which were said to be the top-of-the-line gear for any intermediate level hunters seeking to make a name for themselves would be inevitably shattered before him just like my dreams of ever defeating him. No. Rather my dreams of making him proud of me even if it would be for a moment.

“Why do you continue to come at me? Your attacks won’t ever do anything to me and I’m not even fighting back.”

“I know. I am fully aware of that fact. I know that nothing that I could ever do will ever hurt you so it’s pointless to continue on but I need to make you proud of me because you are all that I have in life!”

He turned to the side before standing up and groaning once more. I stared directly at my brother and his formidable six feet of stature and pure muscle prevailing over my twig of a stature. It was over..

“Forget about me. It would be the best for you.”

“I won't! The first thing that you’ve taught me is that a man should never surrender his family! So even if my obsession over you is my poison I cannot abandon you!”

Thuuk

I fell to the ground from which I had risen from so long ago. My entire face was inflamed in a searing crimson heat with pain rushing throughout my entire body. My brother had slapped me and I stared back up at him…

He had been shaking! Shaking uncontrollably as if a relentless anger was building up within himself, an anger that he could not control. His eyes bulged in shock and fear as he came to realize his worse nightmares were coming true right before him.

‘Ever since I was little. My older brother was a man who loved me dearly. Even when he had been a young boy himself taking care of me as a baby before I could even remember my life, he always wanted the best for me and offered everything that he had to offer.

Sometimes it was the little things such as portions of his food, his ice cream, his lunch money, his video games, and allowance. It was all given up to me when he could have had it all to himself.

But it would have been one thing if he were only kind to me as we grew up but he had still remained a kind soul who wanted the best for me. It was foolish, retarded even for someone like him to give up so much for me when he became a young adult.

As he had been offered up lucrative multi-million dollar contacts to become a star hunter under various prestigious guilds, when he had been offered up the opportunity to date and marry stunning hot women that worked as fashion models, and even the healthy relationship that he once had with our parents. As even they began to realize that he had cared too much for me, his foolish little brother when I could have been sacrificed so they could live a better life.

But he refused and broke contact from my parents over that issue. It was foolish absolutely so. He had given up his entire life to me for some foolish reason. That being the fact that I had been his younger brother.

“But were you ever grateful?”

I don’t think I have every been truly grateful to him. I had always appreciated what he had given and done for me in life but never was there a moment where I was truly able to thank him for what he had done for me.

“But were you ever deserving of his love to begin with?”

Probably not. But knowing the type of person that my brother is, he would say that I would always be deserving of his love as I am his younger brother… But it didn’t matter really…

As questions like these were all that I could ask myself before we began to fight and even as we fought. But when my brother had attacked me for the first time in his life, the impact of that blow sent painful reverberations across the whole of my body with the blow hurting more than anything else for both me and him. But even though the pain was great, at the bottom of my heart I knew it had to happen and I was grateful for it.

It was twisted but truly it was the way I felt. I was happy. Happy because he was learning to live life beyond someone as useless and spoiled as his useless younger brother.’

[End of Flashback]

Following her brutal onslaught against the young boy, Yi Xiao stared at Noah with a sinister look of interest that she never had as she raised her wooden sword and faced it up to Noah’s neck. Noah stared right at her with a strong determined gaze causing Yi Xiao to no longer think of him as a young boy as a man commanding great power and respect.

“Why do you continue to fight?”

Yi Xiao asked Noah who bitterly bit into his lower lip before replying. Even if it were cringe, it was something that he needed to say for himself and not his brother’s sake.

“It’s just that I don’t want to return to becoming someone buried by regrets of not being strong enough or courageous enough because I’ve had it with those thoughts and my weakness which has enslaved me into a life that I don’t want to live!”

Yi Xiao smirked.

“Then I will test your determination…”

End of the chapter…