Racha, Nini, and Fufu noticed the increase in chi inside the space where Kode was hiding.

“Flower!” Nini shouted as she stood, grabbing a wounded arm and trying to pull Fufu to get behind the stone wall a few yards away.

Haylock kept up the offensive attacks, trying to push more chi into his limbs, wondering why his improved and strengthened form couldn’t get past these barriers.

He is close to my own power… maybe higher. The difference is he has been training his whole life, and I’m like two months into all this… Think!

Had there been cracks between the stones that protected Kode, Haylock could have imagined seeing the light of the chi escaping. It was already pulsing through the ground at the bottom of the stones. It continued to flicker where they touched the ground, looking like some strobe light at a disco.

Wait!

Half of Haylock’s roots retreated back into the ground, and he realized the weakness of Kode’s situation. He hadn’t noticed it the first time, but no longer consumed with a blind rage that made him bent on nothing but overpowering his enemy, Haylock used his brain.

Six roots wove together in the dirt, and as one, they thrust upward from under the place Kode was hiding.

Like a sprinkler head that pops up from the ground when water pressure is applied, the stone barrier lifted upward into the air, and a cracking sound came as his roots burst through the weaker barrier of stone underneath the cultivator.

Kode had reinforced the outside stone above the dirt but hadn’t done the same for where he was standing. Only a thin layer had been there, and the light of the chi that had escaped had been the clue Haylock had needed. His eyes could see it where most others probably could not.

A cry of agony and pain came as the stone tomb moved higher and higher into the sky, blood squirting out from the force of his roots that impaled the man inside the prison he had constructed for himself.

What had been meant to provide him with a solid defense now acted as a wall to be pressed against from underneath. Ten feet into the air, the stone shattered as Kode removed the barrier that was now injuring him. Chunks and pieces of it flew in different directions, but they were so high that they shot over the heads of everyone Haylock cared for.

His own body and flower suffered some damage, a few of the petals being torn by the rocks that flew at him, but he didn’t care.

The second the barrier was gone, Haylock’s vines whipped forward, ensnaring the cultivator's two arms. They wrapped around Kode, winding from his shoulders down to his hands, ensuring the man couldn’t use his hands or wrists.

If this is anything like that anime, Avatar, then maybe he can’t do anything if he can’t touch the ground or use his limbs.

Kode screamed in agony as the barbs on the vines cut into his flesh as Haylock squeezed tightly, keeping the young man off the ground and bringing him close to his hungry mouth.

“Wait!”

Haylock glanced at Nini, who was moving closer to the captured cultivator.

“Who is the one that used my mother!?” she demanded, hate filling her black eyes that seemed to almost burn with rage. “Tell me who it was!”

Kode choked back a laugh, trying to appear strong, though he knew Nini was winning this moment.

“Racha… you bastard! Help–”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Kode’s shout for help was cut off as a dagger plunged into his right thigh.

Both Nini and Haylock looked at the younger brother.

Racha was smiling. The way his eyes lit up and the corner of his lips turned upward almost looked evil. He wasn’t moving to help; instead, he seemed excited to see someone he called his brother suffering.

“I want names! Tell me!” Nini shouted up at Kode, focusing on him since his call for help appeared it would go unanswered.

Kode groaned and shook as Haylock began to pull apart the vine-covered arms. Noises of a body being stretched and pulled could be heard. The dagger in the man’s leg seemed to me only a minor inconvenience compared to what the demonic sunflower was doing to him.

“You… won’t ever… know,” Kode replied between gasps. “Father… will hunt… you two… I’ll get my… revenge!”

Clenching her hands and shaking them in frustration, Nini closed her eyes and shook her head. Her breaths were quick and uncontrolled. After a few moments, she turned and opened her eyes, looking at Haylock, who was still slowly pulling Kode’s limbs away from his torso.

“Flower… make him suffer… make him feel just a fraction of the pain I have endured by his father’s hands.”

Those words seemed dark, and Haylock took a moment to try to understand what she was asking.

His eyes lifted back onto the man suspended before him in the air.

What am I doing? When did I become this thing?

Inside him was a hunger that desired the power and strength of the man he had tied up like a meal waiting to be served. Haylock could see the hatred in the man’s gaze. It seemed Kode knew death was coming and didn’t care. He wouldn’t bow to the fear or torture. Even knowing it would be painful, a look coming from Kode struck a thread inside Haylock.

I have suffered my whole life. Being short, an Aussie in an American college, having to endure Football versus Football… When did I become as hard as that guy?

Haylock knew exactly that moment. He had no one. For so long, he had been alone. Everyone only needed him when his abilities offered something to gain. The other faculty only sought him out if his presence served their purpose.

His eyes fell upon Nini, who stood there, staring at him and wondering why he wasn’t doing what she had told him to. She was still young, and it hurt him knowing all the pain she had endured. This world he was in now seemed harsh, harder than where he had grown up. At least there were laws on Earth preventing people from openly killing each other. Usually.

Nini had obviously suffered a pain far worse than he knew, and part of him wanted to help her, but he wasn’t sure if this was the right way.

“Flower?”

Her voice was not as hard, and Haylock saw the questioning look she gave him. Even as blood seeped through the vines tightening around Kode’s arms, Nini couldn’t understand why he had suddenly stopped his actions.

“If you don’t kill him, more will return, and when they do…” Nini paused her statement and shuddered. “They will be stronger and do things to me you cannot imagine… things they did to my mother.”

Tears were running down her face.

Kode started to laugh, fighting against the pain that most would be unable to overcome.

“The little blood bitch can’t even control her flower! I pray to the heavens when my father comes that he will–”

A thunk sound came from his face, cutting the cultivator off. In one of Kode’s brown eyes was a dagger. Haylock noticed the hilt of it was red. It was not like a painted color, but inside, there was actual blood.

So that is how she directs it…

The dagger came out of the man’s eye, flying back to her outstretched hand.

“You need to eat him,” she said, turning and walking toward Racha, who was grinning from ear to ear.

Haylock held the corpse a few seconds longer, fighting back the sensation inside him that longed for the meal and power in his grasp.

Was I wrong for hesitating? I mean, I’m a demonic sunflower… do I even have a soul? Does it matter what I do?

Unable to come up with answers, a sound inside his stem came forth that reminded Haylock of when an empty stomach growls. Wishing he could growl or somehow express his frustration, he instead tossed the corpse into his open maw and, after a few quick bites, found himself lost in the wonderful taste of the man’s chi.

+200 SC

+343 Chi

Those two numbers seemed higher than he had expected, and Haylock found himself overjoyed by the gains he had acquired from Kode. The sounds of conversation turned his attention to the boy and girl talking across twenty yards and what was to come next.

“Again, why should I let you live? How do I know you won’t tell everyone what happened here?”

Motioning to the trees behind him, Racha still wore the grin he had earlier.

“Be honest, if I take off into the forest, you won’t follow,” Racha replied. “That pet of yours was badly injured, and I’m guessing your flower can’t follow. That means it would be just you and me. We both know you’re tired, and I haven’t done anything besides run these last two days. Worse, if a creature did come, I could easily leave you for it.”

Scowling, Nini nodded, still holding the dagger she had just killed Kode in her hand, collecting some of the blood off the blade and putting it in a tiny jar.

“So now what? You just walk away?”

Tilting his head sideways, Racha looked at Haylock and frowned. “Is there any chance you can get that necklace from that thing? If so, I will unlock it for a few items. After that, you can have it.”

“A few items? Like what?”

“If I can take a few of the wild chi orbs from it and two jars of pills I know Kode kept in there, you can have all the money and other stuff. He kept most of his good stuff inside, so you should do well with it.”

Sliding the dagger into a hidden sheath in her armor, Nini took a moment, tapping her foot as she thought about that request.

“Why… tell me why you would do this to your own brother?”

Laughing and snorting, Racha carried on for about fifteen seconds before settling down.

“Besides the fact he was a pompous asshole, I’ll tell you why.”