"Me, an old man? Youngsters of these days are so disrespectful. The eagerness to die is very amusing." The man held Karen in his arms, caressing the back of her head. He glanced at the struggling Alissa, "I can't believe what you kids are doing in my house,"

"Not only have you managed to put my beloved Karen in danger, you also mess up her room with your pathetic essence. I can't bear the disgust from these stupid acts."

Mylos chuckled, then turned to Alissa. After seconds in silence, he approached her with his sword held tight, not dropping his guard even once. After reaching her, Mylos extended his right hand, "Come on, get up."

Hearing his voice, Alissa calmed herself down. After the fog in her head cleared, she lifted her head to see Mylos extending his hand towards her. Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand — hoisting herself to her feet.

"You don't need to speak for some time. We have some annoying company here. Let me handle this first before I can ask of the effects." Mylos patted Alissa on the head, then he turned around to face Karen's father, "Hehe."

"Do you want to fight me? I would wipe you out in the blink of an eye, want to taste that power?" The old man lifted Karen from his body and sat her on a seat nearby, standing to his feet and drawing out his sword.

"I've never fought a Hero before. Try not to kill me too quickly, let's see—" Before Mylos could finish his speech, he tilted his head to the side out of pure instinct, quickly dodging the attack that blew up the area behind him.

Mylos was stunned for a second. He didn't even see the attack coming. He only felt it deep in his cuts and that a dangerous attack was incoming, and had reacted quickly in response to the gut feeling. It was a very close call.

"Amazing, you dodged it. That's a feat some warriors I have faced in the past struggle to achieve. My name is Arthrax, and I heard you referring to yourself as Mylos,"

He cracked his neck, wearing a soft smile on his face as he watched Mylos take a defensive stance. Without any more seconds wasted on pleasantries, he raised his hand up and took a step forward, a cold gleam in his eyes.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Mylos transformed into a spectre, dodging the invisible strikes he sensed. Each invisible strike detonated behind Mylos, sending a shock wave throughout the room. The dust on the ceiling rained down after being shaken.

"Impressive."

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Mylos let out a sigh, then he dashed forward. He wasn't going to outperform a hero by standing like an idiot and letting the bastard of a man rain heavy attacks upon him!

Arthrax smirked, not taking a step from his stop even as Mylos approached him at a crazed speed. Even though he remained motionless, numerous explosions went off after Mylos, rocking the room wildly.

Mylos channeled energy into his legs, propelling himself forward, his sword gripped tightly in his hands. It did not take long for Mylos notice the Hero was not taking him any serious from the start — toying with him coldly.

"I can see your actions a second before they're carried out. Although, I can only see your actions beforehand if I am focused at a point for more than three seconds." A gleam flashed in Arthrax's eyes as he held up his hand.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"If that's so, then why are you letting me approa—" Just as he was about to finish sentence, Mylos stomped upon the ground, pivoting on his feel and spinning to the side.

Just after his xplosive turn, the ground besides him was blown up by the same invisible force. Mylos tanked the shock, blocking the brunt of it with his right arm. After a few seconds of pause, Mylos turned back to Arthrax.

To his surprise, Arthrax had disappeared from where he was standing earlier. Mylos looked around himself, a few wild thoughts ran through his mind as he raised his alert and defence to the maximum. His brows furrowed tight.

"Why?"

Hearing the voice behind him, all the hair over his body stood on ends. Turning his gaze to the side, Mylos finally noticed Arthrax standing besides him. His heart skipped a beat, but Mylos managed to keep himself calm.

"It is because I don't consider you a threat." Arthrax smiled as he gazes upon the stunned Mylos. After giving Mylos enough time to let his words sink in, Arthrax dropped his smile, "You have potential, but you're too weak to me."

“Boom!”

Mylos' pupils shrunk. Spitting out a mouthful of blood a second later, feeling as if his insides were wrecked by the one kick. He vomited blood as he flew into the wall from Arthrax, his eyes bloodshot as he slid to the ground.

"That kick should be powerful enough t—" Arthrax was not allowed to complete his sentence, he suddenly leapt to the side halfway through his speech. Just after that, a slender leg came crashing into the ground.

“Boom!”

Before Arthrax could gather himself for a counterattack that wouldn't earn him a dead body, a kick smashed into his face. He was stunned as he felt the chilling coldness crash into his face, blasting his glasses away.

The leg retracted in a split second, and a punch collided into his abdomen just moments later. This punch wasn't enough to startle him, but after the first two attacks he'd received — Arthrax was stunned by her courage.

Seeing that the woman was about to pull another attack in succession, Arthrax rolled his eyes. This time, he leapt towards the woman just as she was retracting her attack for a second palming into her face with his hand.

“Boom!”

There was an explosion of sound from the collision, the sound of bone cracking and blood bursting forth from a human's nostrils. Following the blood splattering all over the room, the assailant was blown away from Arthrax.

"Father! Don't kill them!" Karen's spirit finally returned to her body, and she ran to block Arthrax. Noticing that he was preparing to chase the already defeated woman, it was her job to protect her!

Seeing Karen standing before him with her spread out in a protective pose, Arthrax sighed. Of course, he was not going to kill either of them as he'd promised not to kill without reason, but that didn't exclude beatings.

"Why are you defending these two troublemakers? The both of them joined hands in ruining this place." Arthrax composed his stance, withdrawing his aura as he looked around for his glasses, "Tch, where did they fall to now?"

Karen ignored her father, turning and running behind to Alissa's aid. The young woman had crashed into a wall, a pool of blood beneath her. Although her injuries healed, Karen noticed that Alissa seemed to be in pain.

Mylos on the other hand stood to his feet, smiling with a cold gleam in his eyes. After some seconds, he shook his head and approached Alissa. Just as he was moving forth, his left foot kicked something delicate to the side.

"Huh?"

Mylos dropped his gaze to find a pair of glasses on the ground. After a second of examination, Mylos picked up the glasses and continued approaching Arthrax. As soon as he reached the human ‘hero’, Mylos handed it over.

Accepting the glasses, Arthrax cleared his throat before placing it on his face. He had managed to remain as cold as ice when searching for his glasses, but as they were a very important item to him, he was mentally disturbed.

If anything had happened to his glasses, he would have no regrets slaughtering more than a few high demons to break his oath. Since it was provided, Arthrax managed all the negative energy and forced a gratified smile.

"Don't say it. Coming from you, it'd be disgusting for a demon to listen to." Mylos shot down the thought just a second before it became a manifestation, a cold gleam in his eyes as he walked past Arthrax to approach Alissa.

"I see."

Arthrax adjusted the glasses on his nose, reflecting light as he watched Mylos converse with the other demon. A thoughtful expression formed on his face, shrouded in a layer of coldness seconds later.