“Big brother Roel!”
“Die, die! I’ll send you to the depths of hell!”
Creeping up on Roel from behind was a bloodied Bron. His suave face was already ruined from being smashed into the table, and there were wooden splinters embedded in his face. His sharp nose bridge, that was once a source of pride, had collapsed downward, and his reddened eyes reflected his berserk state.
Baffling baboons! I have already smashed his head into the table, and he’s still able to climb back up?
Roel had underestimated the resilience of an Origin Level 6 transcendent. He didn’t think that Bron would be able to recover so quickly from his concussion and silently sneak up on him to stab him.
A searing pain assaulted Roel as Bron plunged his dagger, which was around the length of a finger, into Roel’s stomach. In this crucial moment, Roel quickly used Focused Burst to tighten his abdominal muscles while reaching out to hold the blade of the dagger in place.
“Miscreant, you dare use a dagger against me? Are you tired of living?”
“I’ve been thinking of ways to lure you out and deal with you, but who would have thought that you would come knocking of your own accord—and for the sake of this hideous woman? You sure have made things convenient for me!
“There are too many people here who have harmed you. Do you know what this means? It means that spells won’t be able to pinpoint me as the culprit anymore! I’ll be able to get away scot-free even if I slaughter you here! You are the sole son of the Ascart House. If I were to end your lineage right now, I’ll be viewed as the hero of the Elric House!”
Bron roared furiously as he tried to push the dagger in with all his might.On the other hand, Roel was doing his best to stop the dagger from piercing any deeper. Even though he had nearly depleted his mana and wasn’t able to cast Spell Gloves anymore, he was gripping the dagger tightly in place through sheer tenacity.
A pair of golden eyes met a pair of green eyes, one impassively cold and the other ferociously vicious. Just like that, the two of them wrestled in this life-and-death tug-o-war.
As time went by, Roel’s hands began to shake.
The earlier battle caused his left hand to be seared to the point where it couldn’t be used anymore, and his right arm was bleeding profusely from holding onto the sharp blade. He couldn’t sustain Controlled Breathing anymore, and his mana was down to the dregs. In comparison, while Bron was faring horribly too, his state was at least better than Roel’s.
“Hahaha, you have run out of strength now, haven’t you? I can feel your grip loosening by the moment!”
Bron mocked coldly as he grit his teeth and pushed the dagger millimeter by millimeter deeper into Roel’s stomach, causing blood to spurt out yet again.
A victorious smile had emerged on Bron’s face; he was so certain that victory was already within his grasp that he failed to notice the person charging forth from behind.
-----------------------------------------
This mustn’t do. I must help big brother Roel!
The trembling Alicia thought frantically.
The battle had already reached its climax, and Roel and Bron were tussling with one another. In Alicia’s view, Bron Elric had already gone completely mad. He was really intending to kill Roel and her.
She knew that she had to help her older brother, but she had no idea what she could do to make a difference.
Despite her powerful bloodline, she was still far too young. She was only at Origin Level 7 at the moment. There was far too large a gap between Origin Level 7 and Origin Level 6, be it in terms of strength, speed, or resilience.
Was it really a hopeless situation?
No, there was still a way out.
The oldest humans had discovered a way to significantly increase their fighting ability, so as to gain the strength to deal with enemies that would have otherwise been beyond their means—weapons.
The silver-haired girl looked at the bloodstained knife on the table, and her body instinctively trembled wildly in aversion.
This was the knife that had been waved right before her eyes just a moment ago.
To Alicia, this was an object that was more frightening than any other weapon out there in the world. Had it been the past her, she wouldn’t have even dared to spare a glance at it.
However, her eyes were set on it at this very moment. Despite the tears that were flowing uncontrollably, she forced herself not to avert her eyes from it.
She had always thought that it was a bizarre world she lived in. There were so many frightening things to be feared, yet so few wonderful things to be cherished. That day, when Roel first personally fed her, she thought she saw happiness knocking on her door for the first time.
As frightening as the knife was, she was a hundred times, no, a thousand times more frightened of losing Roel and the cherished happiness that had finally come to her.
Move, my body! Move!
The little girl screamed at herself in her mind as she forced herself to grab hold of that bloodstained knife. It should have been something so light, but it weighed a ton to her. An unknown strength rising from the depths of her heart brought her the courage to willingly lift it up for the first time since that incident.
I must protect Lord Brother!
With tears in her eyes, Alicia bit her lips in resolution as she charged toward the nightmare that was threatening to take away her everything.
-------------------------------------------
Splitch.
The sound of a knife stabbing into a person’s body sounded for the second time in the room. Bron Elric’s body jolted as he turned around to look behind him with widened eyes.
Behind him, a trembling Alicia had already pushed the knife into his back. Blood had spurted all over her body, and her hands were shaking ceaselessly. Yet, gritting her teeth tenaciously, she continued to pour her strength forth to push the knife further in.
“AHHH—”
A shriek that could have otherwise come from a slaughtered pig sounded from Bron’s mouth. The excruciating pain on his back caused him to release the handle of the dagger as he swung his arm around and smacked the silver-haired girl behind him flying. Then, he hurriedly touched his own wound.
With a cry of agony, Alicia was slammed into a wall before collapsing to the ground, spewing a mouthful of blood.
This sight made Roel see red. Gathering every last bit of strength he had in his body, he hurled his fist toward Bron with a deafening roar.
“You bastard!”
Pah! Krk!
A powerful fist carrying all of Roel’s rage shot right into Bron’s chin, producing the cracking sound of a fracture. The sheer force sent Bron flying through the air in an arc before slamming down hard onto the table behind him.
Bam!
The attack caused the golden-haired boy’s eyes to roll upward as white foam dribbled down his mouth. His body twitched around like a fish on the shore.
Roel pulled out the knife from his stomach and held it with both hands as he stabbed it right down to pin Bron firmly onto the table.
“Ahhh you… Wuuu…”
The intense pain temporarily brought Bron back to consciousness as he groaned feebly, but soon, he fainted once more due to the concussion from the earlier blow. Roel shot him one last glance before heading over to the fainted Alicia while clutching his stomach.
“Alicia?”
Roel quickly took a look at Alicia’s condition, and to his relief, it appeared that the blood she spewed out earlier came from an injury in her mouth and not something more severe. Heaving a sigh of relief, he slowly sat down while groaning in pain.
Tsk, my wounds are too heavy this time around. I think my rib cage has fractured too.
Roel, whose consciousness was starting to fade away, quickly shook his head to keep himself awake. It was at this moment that flurried footsteps sounded from the corridor.
Bang!
The door shot open, and yet another group of children ran in. Upon seeing the tragic sight in the room, they exclaimed in horror.
“Big brother Bron!”
“Who? Who’s the one who did it?”
“It’s him! He’s not one of our own!”
Seeing their unconscious companions lying all around, the agitated group, who were clearly Bron’s allies, soon noticed Roel, and they charged over with furious roars.
Roel’s face immediately turned grim. He tried pushing himself off the ground, but he was far too weak for that right now.
At this crucial moment, a figure suddenly stood between the group of children and Roel, Nora Xeclyde. She coldly ordered the group.
“Stop.”