Not good. I glazed my sight over the man, his cheeky smile and the arrogant expression. Making it seem like he was taking a casual stroll in the woods, instead of hunting someone down. Not good at all.

I did try fighting him once but I don't think it counted as a fight, it was more like I was a fish up on the chopping block. And the chef about to slice me was taking pleasure in my despair. But now things were different.

The tension between us froze, the air feeling as still as water, the man making no apparent movement. Amy was still affixing her eyes on the man, not even removing it for a single second. The kid was well gone? He seemed to have vanished when the man appeared. But I believe he didn't leave us... i think.

Glancing at Amy, I realized how rough her condition was. There were bruises and frostbites on some parts of her body, while there were severe frostbites on one of her shoulders. Her arm hung weakly as she used her other arm to hold her weapon. Yet the fervor in her eyes was still there, her unwillingness to repent inspired me a little.

Maybe with the kid, there was a chance of us surviving this after all. Because beating this guy might as well be a pipe dream. Well at least for now. In the future, things will be different. But for now, let's survive first to reach the future.

“His name is Aki.” she stated, i even noticed there was overt annoyance in her eyes with the man named Aki.

Aki huh, cool name. Too bad it had to be this way, I would have liked to be his friend. Hunting with him instead of being hunted was the more preferable option. But I still have a bone to pick with him.

There was something wrong, I felt it. Then I realized, why is he still attacking us? He stood there with his hands behind his back, the grin still visible on his face. So why isn't he moving?

"So? Aren't you guys going to work together and beat the big bad? Big Bad meaning yours truly. Come on, have some fun with your short lives. Since there won't be a happy ending in this situation."

He said, in a playful voice. I felt an unknown emotion in me, the feeling of Aki looking down upon us on a high vantage point. It's not a good feeling. I clenched my fists, electrifying my feet without me noticing.

This guy.

Before I charged head first, I reached my hand towards Amy and she was about to pull back from me but it was too late. A blue hue started wrapping around her, and just as she was about to slice me open, she stopped and started inspecting her body.

Amy was a little shocked by my {Forests Touch} but she seemed to have accepted as she said, "Thank you." I'm lying if i said i wasn't happy when she said that, it's a rare occurrence for me to get noticed by her. I had a stupid grin on my face and when Amy saw it, she reverted back to her deadpan expression. Oh well.

She passed her sword back to her right arm, feeling around and testing her healed arm. She seemed satisfied as she started billowing with a crimson energy, covering her body like protective armor.

We took a stance, ready to start our assault. I hope that the kid will help us with this. I was starting to wonder where he was when I saw a shadow lurking behind Aki.

His face made no change despite the shadow being so close. The shadow lunged out of his hiding with a sword in hand, a single edged blade with a slight curvature. His blade inches away from his neck. I secretly grinned inside my heart, thinking that the attack would be a success. It didn't. Aki turned around in one swift motion, silver fan unsheathed as sparks flew between their weapons.

“Sneaky little thing, took me a while to find you. Now off you go.”

Aki defended and responded with a fist so fast that we barely caught sight of it. It slammed against the stunned kid as he flew through the air, sending him deep within the forest.

With that small collision as a trigger, we leapt into the fight with weapons drawn. My feet crackled with blue lightning, sending me straight into a confrontation with Aki. Our weapons collided, Scythe against the fan, with of course the Scythe losing as he deflected it with ease.

I tried again, sending a flurry of slices to him, but every single one was either defended or dodged, with him not making a single change of expression. Frustrated, I gripped my scythe tightly as I swung at him with all my force, and he defended by using his fan as always.

Grinning, I pulled back my attack and appeared behind him in one single motion, my Scythe already centimeters away from his body. All of a sudden I felt an ominous feeling, my Scythe made contact yet my expectations of blood spilling didn't happen.

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The supposed Aki melted like ice, with the real Aki being nowhere to be seen. “Nice try.” A literal chill went down my spine and as I was about to react, I felt a fist slam on my back.

Coughing out, I flew through the air as I passed by the scarlet eyed Amy. She didn't seem disturbed by it as she continued her way to Aki, with it crashing down against a thick tree.

I leaned my back against the tree, and I was in time to see that Amy had already closed the distance. Their weapons collided, blade against fan with them surprisingly being equal. That's not fair.

Amys every swing felt like a flower swaying through a dead empty field, with her being the only one standing. Her attack made me feel as if she was dancing under the moonlight, the sound of steel against steel acted as music for her deadly performance.

And the audience seemed mildly entertained. Aki seemed to be playing along, dodging some of her slashes in dramatic fashion, while blocking sword slashes with his fan, sparks flying like that of fireworks exploding in the night sky.

This would have been a performance for the ages, but too bad that we were trying to kill each other. Oh well. I picked myself up, dusted my clothes off and started electrifying my feet.

The show seemingly ended with Amy being careless for a small second, as Aki took advantage of it and sent a fan towards her way, letting her also fly through the air and crash to a tree.

“Practice on the footwork next time little lady.” he mocked.

I lunged at the man with full force, Scythe in hand as I intended to decapitate his head. He deflected it and sent a kick, and not making the same mistake, reeled back and put some distance between us, dodging his assault.

A chilling fog started becoming more apparent around him, freezing everything it touched. It made breathing become a laborious task, as I saw my own breath become shards of ice. This can't last.

Drawing her sword as she observed the situation with chilling crimson eyes. She closed the distance and simultaneously, a shadow darted out from a shadow of the forest, his sword emanating a dreadful aura.

I smiled, noticing that we might have a good chance at surviving this mess. I joined them and we came from three directions, leaving no path of escape. In a second, we were at arms length, and as we thought that he can't defend against all of us, he did something that we never expected.

In one second, his fan disappeared from his hands. And in the next, as we were about to make contact, I saw something horrifying. Aki widely grinned as he picked us apart like a child playing doctor.

In one moment, we were about to make contact with him, ready to give him a new one, and in the next second when I just blinked once, I was already far away from Aki. My body was leaning against a tree, badly battered and broken in several places, with blood trickling from my mouth.

I felt my scythe in my hand, and yet when I tried gripping it, my fingers did not respond. Blurrily I looked up and saw that Aki was still standing there, hands behind his shoulder as he took a deep breath and exhaled. The kid was nowhere to be seen, his own state unknown.

Craning my neck in another direction, I saw that Amy was lying on the ground, her body bloodied with her sword broken in half. She had her back against me as I was unsure whether she was even still alive.

In that instance I felt time stop, something rose within me within me. Rage, despair, and resentment. I glared towards the man and he seemed to have noticed, gazing back at me with cold and unfeeling eyes.

Without warning, he was already looking down on me. His smile still plastered on his face yet his eyes were cold. The temperature started dropping like flies, I felt my fingers become slightly frozen, with even breathing now becoming almost impossible.

I paid all of it no heed and continued staring at Aki. Anger filled my vision, as all I wanted at that moment was slicing Aki in a thousand different ways. How dare he hurt Amy.

“Oh, are you angry? That's surprising, I mean I tore you a new one but i dont think it's because of that.”

He looked confused, and I unconsciously glanced at Amy for a split second, and it was a dreadful mistake. Aki smiled and brought Amy to me within a second. He let go as her body dropped to the ground.

Her face was deathly pale, bruises were all over her body as some parts were riddled with frostbite. Her breathing was shallow, her own life feeling like a flickering fire surrounded in an endless blizzard. I secretly sighs of relief as at least she was alive, there was still a chance.

“Is it because of her? Woah is she your little girlfriend or something?”

“… N- no.”

“Hm? What's that? Can't hear ya kid.”

“I… said… no.”

“Oh so no, then why are you so grumpy then. I mean isn't she just a stranger to you? You barely met her for a few months and now you're here crying about her almost dying. Come on, make it make sense.”

“Fa- Family.”

It was true. What he said was true. I have only stayed at their place for such a short amount of time that it might as well not exist. But still, her family gave me a home when no one else was willing to. How can I forget that? And plus, she slightly resembles my sister.

I have the sword scars to prove it. But Aki only laughed at my face, cackling loudly like a madman.

“Family? Wow your funny Cosmo Le Strange. Hey did you forget? You dont belong here. What, did you think we won't notice? Dont think the pope is an idiot like your damned emperor. Heck the only reason you survived this far was because-”

I didn't let him finish, as I sent a fist flying towards his face. It was a normal fist without any special power involved. I mustered all my strength for that one fist but unfortunately it did nothing.

Aki easily caught my fist and seemed to be annoyed because of my interruption. Suddenly his face lit up as he seemed to have an idea. He let go of my fist and looked down on me.

With a cold and indifferent face, he said.

“You don't belong here Cosmo Le Strange. Not in the Continent, not in the Empire, and certainly not in their Family. You have deluded yourself into thinking that you are a resident here but you're not. And you never will.”

I don't know why but something seemed to have broken inside of me. Like something shattered into thousands of pieces, leaving a gaping hole inside of me that was void of anything.

I felt my body weaken, my clenched fists loosened.

Aki approached me and just as he was about to carry me, perpetual darkness devoured me as I felt everything turn black. My consciousness drifted away and fell into slumber. That night was the first time I did not dream.