"You seem… different?" I muttered, unable to suppress my glowing smile from shining onto him. And as he attempted to shield my brightness, he chuckled just a bit before cracking open his lips and explaining.
"In these past few days… weeks, how long has it been since we arrived here? Anyway, since we split up, I've been through a lot. I may tell you about it some other time, but hey, look at you. You look like some kind of soldier," Orion laughed, looking at my outfit from head to toe. I even gave him a little spin which made both of us cringe, so we quickly wrote it off as something we didn't even attempt to do.
I was currently wearing a very tight soldier fit that was more for the looks than anything else. Its uniform was mostly black but had streaks of white dotted about that complemented my lighter hair and lighter eyes. It was a simple fit that I had chosen for this meeting.
"So, what have you been doing since we split up? I have a lot, but I feel like you have something to say for abandoning me like that?" The young man smirked as he walked over to the edge of the training grounds and picked up a bottle of water. Quickly gulping down some of its liquid, he walked back towards me, handing me what looked to be another bottle of water. But for some reason, the liquid was shimmering with a golden glow. "Don't worry. That's just a serum that helps with recovery. You don't need to drink it now, but I assume that asshole who welcomed you didn't even offer some food or a drink."
"Ahem, well, don't mind if I do," I lightly smiled, taking the drink and immediately downing it. It was refreshing and had a tint or tartness to it, like a lemon had been squeezed into the water, serving as more nutrients and a way to get my saliva flowing again.
"Don't avoid the question," Orion smiled, his heterochromatic eyes almost pulsating within their sockets. It was creepy and a bit scary to just watch, so I instantly gave in with a long sigh of defeat. He was most likely going to find out anyway, so why not just admit to my wrongdoings now?
"I'm sorry for ditching you like that, but the woman who took me was a duchess similar to yours. She was powerful. Way too powerful. I could hardly keep myself alive under her surveillance and the intense missions she's been putting me through. I barely had any time to worry about you as I was focused on keeping myself alive… I'm sorry for being selfish," I lowered my eyes only to see a hand lift my face back up.
"Nah, you're good," I noticed Orion smiled lightly, the creepy aura from before dissipating as if it was never there in the first place. Was I hallucinating it or something? How come it disappeared so fast? Maybe I was hallucinating. "I'm glad you said it like that. Always be selfish and prioritize your own life. I'm also glad to hear we were practically in the same position, even if one of us was eating good food."
There was a bit of an awkward silence between us until I glanced at my status… 『Status』
[Name: Aisa Hayha]
[Race: Demon]
[Class: Ghost Hunter]
[Level: 55/55] (200/200) XP Needed
[HP: 100/100 MP: 50/50 SP: 80/80] - Above Human
[Strength: 50] - Above Human
[Defense: 20] - Above Human
[Magic: 50] - Above Human
[Speed: 200] - Above Human
[Skills: [Dagger Coating] [Dagger Enhancement] [Ghost Presence] [Presence Deletion] [Bullet Enhancement] [Gun Enhancement] [Haste] [Empower]
[Ghost of Ice Skills: [Twin Invisible Slash] [Eyes of A Ghost] [Body of A Ghost (Partial)] [Breath of The Undead World] [Terrorizing Pressure]
[Passive Skills: [Breath of the Snowy Underworld] [Emotion Suppresor] [Focus of A Trained Sniper] [Lineage of a Trained Sniper] [Constitution of a Tarturling] [Prisoner of Tartarus] [Iron Speech] [Demon's Gluttonous Stomach] [Potion Organs]
[Rune Path: [Destroying Twin Slash] [Throne World: Concentrated Capsule of Ice] [Locked] [Locked] [Locked] [Locked]
[Equipment: [Magic Ring] [Storage Ring] [Daggers of The Black Ice] [Flesh Sniper]
…
"Hey… wanna spar right now?" I asked, feeling I was still being underestimated by my brother. He definitely wasn't the type to show off, but was definitely the type to look down on people, even if it wasn't fully intentional. He only saw me as a little sister he needed to guide and protect, but I've grown to the point I can be my own individual person. I can live my own individual life without his worry.
"You're gonna lose," Orion lightly smiled, retrieving his signature spear that crashed down from the sky and into the ground below. It shook the entire estate as its sharp tip penetrated the earthy ground. And as its tail reached up towards the heavens, Orion grabbed it, taming the seemingly uncontrollable bloodlust it emitted.
"No, I won't," I lightly smiled back. Orion's expression widened as we both took a deep stance, our weapons almost cracking from the pressure of our palms holding onto their handles. My weapon of choice was, of course, two black daggers that were made completely from ice. But contrary to popular belief, these daggers weren't slippery in the slightest. In fact, they were so dry that they released a large amount of steam just by being gripped.
"Yes you will-"
…
(Orion POV)
Suddenly, she disappeared from my sight. I attempted to sense her, but every single bit of her presence had been eradicated. So, I attempted to look at the ground to try and see if she was leaving footprints on the dusty training arena, but once again, there was nothing there. I tried every trick in the book, but in the end, I could only wait for one single thing.
VWOOOM
An overwhelming presence, like that of a demon lord, appeared behind me, sending chills down my spine. I froze for just a millisecond, but that was enough for my spear to just barely miss the woman's dagger, the blade sinking deep into my throat… or so I thought.
"Huff… huff… huff… huff… huff… I lose," I huffed. "I was going to try and wait for the last split second of bloodlust, but you honed so much that it was enough to freeze me. You're impressive as always."
My hand moved the dagger that was just about to penetrate my skin away from my throat, and dropped my spear onto the ground. The loud clang resounded through the air, signaling the end of the match that had just started. It was impressive, but if we sparred once again… there was no way I would lose.
"We're on similar levels now, Orion. So please stop looking down on me. You don't need to always protect me as I can protect myself now."
"Hmmm? Did I come off as looking down on you?" I jokingly smiled, making a stupid expression that unfortunately didn't receive any laughter. "If you think I was holding back, you're wrong. You're just strong. I'm proud of you."
My hand pat the young woman's head just as she lowered her daggers. Her eyes may have fallen to the ground, but the smile that appeared on her face was more than enough for me to notice she was happy with her skills.
"Are you sure you weren't holding back?" Aisa tried to make sure I wasn't joking around, but with a stern and complacent expression, I responded to her with a genuine smile. She looked like she was about to cry for some reason, but before she got too cocky with her skills, I brought up the idea of a second round.
"Now, don't get too arrogant just because you beat me once. Now that I know of your skills, I will win the next time we fight, so how about we test it out? Surely I can get a chance to redeem myself, right?"
Aisa, feeling a bit more confident, continued to smile and returned to her spot on the training ground whilst I picked up my weapon of choice. The feeling of leather gripping in my hand was nice, and as the match started without a countdown, I smiled, waiting once again.
Aisa disappeared into thin air, and then, just like before, the overwhelming feeling of terror and power lunged at me, but now from my left side, opposite to where my spear was. It was a smart decision and worked yet again, but this time, the millisecond was cut in half, and I just barely managed to summon my new weapon in between the single dagger aiming for my throat.
"Huff… huff… huff… damn, that was close," I muttered, feeling the blade slightly tickle my skin, drawing just a few drops of blood before disappearing into thin air. Aisa was getting ready to make a new attack, possibly incorporating new skills… but the next time, I could already tell it was going to be long-range.
Vwooomm… BOOOOM
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