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n

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nA cold sweat streaked down Dyon’s back as he narrowed his eyes.

n‘I can’t just run away, I came here to save that guy. Goddammit, you were real cool a few nights ago, huh? What happened to I don’t help people who don’t help themselves? Now we’re both in for it.’

nDyon flicked his wrists and quickly selected black gloves and guards that extending to his elbows, ‘I don’t have time to put the rest of it on, this will have to do.’

n“you’ve got a lot of nerve,” Blue said with a smirk.

n“I hope you’re not trying to get into a war of words with me, you can’t possibly expect to win with that ugly face of yours,” Dyon sneered.

nBlue’s face distorted and his eyes reddened in anger. Veins pulsed on his forehead as he lunged towards Dyon.

n‘Shit, too fast,” Dyon only had time to cross his arms before he was blasted into a wall.

nBOOM!

n“argh,” Dyon slumped to the floor coughing up blood.

n‘Dammit, the bones in my back and arm are fractured. Even through the guard? What kind of power is this?!’

nBefore he could get up, he sensed a looming shadow over him, “you wanted to make fun of my scar? Let’s see how you’ll survive this.”

nDarius chuckled, “seems like you’ve angered Blue. And considering how you insulted him, Red won’t let you go either”.

nDyon felt a hand wrap around his throat and lift him up, “I apologize,” Dyon said with a bloody smile, “I’m sure your mother would love your fa –“

nBOOM!

nBlue didn’t even let Dyon finish his sentence before slamming him back into the wall.

n“Wait! Please stop, I swear I have no common stones left, I gave everything I had to you yesterday”

n“Oh, so you want to join in on the fun too, Eli?” Red said with a toothy grin.

n“N-no, I wouldn’t dare. I-I j-just don’t want someone to get i-injured because of me.”

n‘Well, at least he has some balls. Maybe he was worth helping then.’

nDyon was barely holding it together. The noise was starting to draw in a crowd, and none of them seemed intent on helping.

n“Seems like the twins are at it again, first years should learn to bow their heads.”

n“True, if they did they probably wouldn’t have ended up in such a pathetic state.”

nLaughter filled the air.

n“Ugh, how depressing,” Dyon said between coughs, “so many pretty ladies are seeing me in such a pathetic light right now. Such a shame”

n‘What the hell is this guy thinking,’ thought Ava from a distance, ‘he’s getting pummeled and he’s still thinking about girls?’

n“Let him go Blue,” Dyon was dropped and nearly collapsed, “I could kill you, but that would be too easy,” said Darius with a snicker.

n“So how about this. Strip naked and kowtow to me 10 times. Then I’ll let you and dear Eli here go. Originally, this was just for business, you’re the one who made this personal.”

nDyon put his hands on his knees, taking shallow breaths.

nA quiet laughter filled the hallway, “ow, oo, that hurts. Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh.”

nDyon glanced over at Eli who had tears and snot streaking down his face. He kept muttering ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’, under his breath while looking at Dyon. But all he saw was a big smile on Dyon’s face. Almost as if it said: ‘I don’t regret it at all’.

n“It seems like he didn’t hear me Blue, cleanly break his left arm. That might help.”

nSNAP!

nAn ugly sound filled the hallway. Dyon grunted and his breathing became even shallower. He almost had to wheeze to get any air.

n“I’ll give you 3 more seconds, or we’ll snap another limb.”

n“Haha, kiss my ass.”

nSNAP!

n“Sorry ma – boss, 3 seconds weren’t up yet.”

n“Don’t worry, it was well warranted,” Darius walked up to the disheveled Dyon. At this point, Dyon couldn’t use his arms to support himself anymore. He was leaning his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath. His hair was a bloody mess, his pants and shirt were torn, and his arms hung limply to his side.

n“Truly a sad sight,” Dyon said with a chuckle, “And here I was just about to take a nice long sle –“

nBefore he could finish, Darius sent a kick at his chest, snapping his ribs. Dyon fell to his knees, unconscious.

nThe crowd gasped.

n“That’s at least the peak of the 3rd layer of the foundation stage.”

n“As expected from a top ranked 3rd year.”

n“No no no, we can’t end this like this. I can’t let you die so easily, wake up,” Darius picked up Dyon by his hair and slapped him awake.

n“5 more minutes, beautiful. Can’t you see I was finally getting some rest.”

nBlood spilled out of Dyon’s mouth and arms, pooling on the ground.

n“Hm, seems like you’re a bit delirious,” Darius said tilting up Dyon’s head, “What should I do with you?”

n“Nah, I just thought you looked particularly womanly. So, I accidentally let it –“

nSLAP!

n“Let’s try this again. Strip naked, and kowtow 10 times.”

n“Listen man, I was joking when I said you looked womanly, I don’t swing that wa –“

nSLAP!

n“Alright,” Darius said in a calm voice, “you have one more chance, or I kill you.”

n“Didn’t you hear me before? You’re just the slightly prettier monkey of the 3 of you. Kiss my ass.”

nDarius’ face darkened.

n“He’s crazy…”

n“What a dumbass”

n“All he had to do was kneel and it would be over”

nEli couldn’t stand it anymore and rushed over, kneeling at Darius’ feet.

n“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll get you as many common stones as I can for tomorrow. I really don’t have any left”

nDarius ignored Eli, staring daggers at Dyon. But all he found were eyes as calm as Focus Lake.

n“You’d better kill me right here and right now,” Dyon’s voice held an indominatable will. His eyes darkened and an almost demonic voice continued, “Because if you don’t, soon I’ll crush you beneath my feet. I’ll tear your limbs from your body. I’ll torture you until you have no tears left to cry. Then I’ll feed your corpse to pigs.”

nDarius had no idea why, but a cold sweat filled his back and his usually calm face furrowed into a frown.

n“I’d love to see your heroic rise, truly. But, unfortunately, you die today. And you won’t have a grave for anyone to visit either”

nA strange energy filled Darius’ right hand as the air around it seemed to be sliced as it passed through it.

n“That’s a sword type energy!”

n“No, that’s definitely spear type energy. A sword is more elegant, this is more domineering”

n“Darius truly is a genius. To reach the peak of the 3rd level at the start of his 3rd year and control spear qi? Wow.”

n“Whoever this kid is deserves this for offending such a genius”

n“Truly disgusting, who does he think he is?”

n“You can know that you’re truly blessed to have died by my hands. Consider this as payment for offending me”

nDarius looked into Dyon’s eyes as his spear qi pierced into Dyon’s chest, but all he saw was the same unbreakable will. It shook his concentration and the qi dispersed, leaving Darius feeling the flowing blood from Dyon’s wound.

nBefore he could pierce forward further, a whip wrapped around his wrist, “I think that’s enough Darius. You may be able to get away with killing him but think of all the meetings that’ll be necessary. Do you really want to waste hours of time on an ant you killed just to explain yourself?”

nDarius looked over to find Ava controlling his arm, “unfortunately, he hasn’t kowtowed to me or even faked a true apology. His fate is sealed,” Darius went to move forward but found that he couldn’t outdo Ava’s strength.

n‘What is this, she may be ranked at the top of second year, but I’m ranked near the top of the third. Why can she hold me in check?’

n“Fine, since you need a woman to protect you, I think that’s insulting enough. Blue, Red, Let’s go,” Darius let go of Dyon after wiping his bloodied hand on his shirt.

n“Sure, hold on a sec boss,” Red kicked Dyon in the face before spitting on him, “learn your place next time. Because if I hear you insult any one of us again, death is all that awaits you.”

nBlue sent a wad of spit at Dyon as well before snickering and catching up to Darius.

n“You **ing idiot, if you wanted to act cool, you should have found another place to do it,” Ava said, not even attempting to go and help Dyon up.

nDyon didn’t respond to her. He looked up to Eli before struggling to sit up, “oof, this is hard with 2 broken arms.”

nHe looked down at his chest, watching the blood flow.

n“Are you okay?” He asked Eli with a smile.

n“Y-yes. I’m so sorry,” Eli said with tears streaming down his face.

n“That’s good,” Dyon looked down as his wrist, “Band storage take out: protection à shield à disk.”

nDyon activated his wrist band with his voice, before kicking over a metal disk identical to the one he used to protect his door.

n“Press the button at the center to activate the shield, it should protect you next time those hooligans come around.”

n“Protect him? Is this guy an idiot? If he had something like that, why didn’t he use it before?”

n“He’s probably trying to look cool again. He’s just a dumbass”

n“Clearly, he doesn’t understand how the martial world works, people aren’t going to be there to help you. Instead of relying on cheap tricks, you should find your own strength.”

n“Protect me?” Eli looked confused.

n“Go ahead, try it,” Dyon smiled.

n“Okay!” Eli pressed the button and a translucent and blue energy shield popped up.

n“How is this going to protect him,” Ava said in disdain.

nDyon sat up, leaning against the wall and catching his breath before pushing through his heels and sliding up the wall.

n“Don’t believe me? Attack it with everything you have then little Ava.”

n“Don’t call me little Ava,” despite saying that, she brandished her whip and swung at a cowering Eli.

n‘This seems to be the same shield he used to stop me before.’

nCRACK!

nRipples waved through the shield, but in the end it calmed down, leaving Eli perfectly safe.

n‘That whip really does have something odd about it…’ thought Dyon as he slowly walked away.

nBy the time Ava looked up from her shock, Dyon was already slowly walking towards his room.

n“Wait! What’s your name master?”

n“Master?” Dyon looked at Eli feeling a little confused.

n“Of course, you saved me, and have given me something to protect myself. I wouldn’t try to call you anything else.”

n“Haha, how about you call me brother. My name is Dyon. Dyon Saccharo.”

n“I’ll remember it, I live just down the hall in 111. I already know where you live, so if you ever need me, that’s the second-best place to find me. The best would be at the Array Alchemy faction. OH! And I’m Eli Viridi.”

n“Nice to meet you Eli,” Dyon’s smile never faded as he walked with Eli towards his door.

n“Saccharo? Have you ever heard of that family?” Asked someone in the crowd

n“Never”

n“Me neither”

n“So, he’s a nobody who challenged Darius Storm? What an idiot.”

n“Only an idiot would challenge a pillar family member while having no backing.”

n“But, you all saw it. If he had the means to protect himself, why didn’t he?”

nAs the crowd was talking, Ava was thinking the same think as he watched Dyon pitifully try to open his door with 2 broken arms.

n“I’m sorry big brother Dyon, they stole all my common stones, so I can’t buy you medicine for your wounds, but I’ll try to make some money, so I can,” Eli said while taking Dyon’s card and opening the door for him.

n“It’s no problem, I can heal myself, I’ll just have to sleep for a while. I’m not sure how long. Should only be a couple days. When I’m awake, I’ll come see you at the Array Alchemy faction, I’m interested in joining, too.”

n“Really?! That’s great! No one ever tries to join us. I come from a family of gardeners, so I thought Array Alchemy was perfect for me. I’m the first 1st year recruit they’ve had in a while. Wait, big brother Dyon, why weren’t you at orientation and the pillar faction choice meeting?”

n“haha,” Dyon looked at Eli a bit awkwardly, “I didn’t know about it, to be honest”

nEli gave Dyon a weird look before nodding, “I’ll let you heal up, I’ll see you soon!”

nAs soon as the door closed, Dyon used his forehead to activate the shield, canceling all noise in or out.

n“AARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!” Dyon roared at the top of his lungs. The room vibrated and he felt something pop in his mind. His last thought before he collapsed in his tub, a bloodied mess, was: ‘I’ll make you all pay.’

n**

nOutside the door, Ava was still thinking about why Dyon hadn’t protected himself when Eli walked out of Dyon’s room. The crowd was still around speculating about why Dyon hadn’t acted.

n“Maybe he was just an idiot and forgot about his life saving measures”

n“Maybe the device would have worked on Ava but not Darius, so he didn’t bother. Think about it, Ava is only a 2nd year. But, Red, Blue and Darius are all in 3rd.

n“SHUT UP! You’re all idiots!” Eli said almost hyperventilating.

n“who are you calling an idiot kid?”

n“Isn’t this the guy who was pissing his pants while this supposed ‘Dyon Saccharo’ was getting beaten half to death”

n“I’M CALLING YOU ALL IDIOTS,” surprisingly, Eli didn’t back down. Tears started streaming down his face as he croaked out his words, “If he had protected himself, they would have taken out their frustrations on me. You all saw it. He has no cultivation. How would he have gotten around Blue to give me the device. And even if he had been lucky, how would he have gotten around Darius and Red? Throwing it? How could he throw something fast enough for a martial warrior at the 3rd layer to not be able to catch it? And even if he could, how would I catch it with my low cultivation. SO YES, YOU’RE ALL IDIOTS”

nThe crowd was stunned as Eli stormed away, tears streaking down his face, “I’ll never forget this big brother. From today onwards, my life is yours.”

nAva stood there as Eli flashed by her, biting her lips, “that’s really the reason? What an idiot.”

nDespite what she said, her eyes glowed, “maybe you are a real man then.”

n