The hunt

After this weird dream, Teras decided to go outside so he can refresh his mind, maybe all this training back then messed up his mind, that's what Teras thought

The town was quiet and empty, it was quite unusual setting for a crowded city such as this and Teras felt a bit uncomfortable walking around but still did

Suddenly he saw a dark figure watching him from the corner of a house

"Who are you?" Teras asked loudly, the figure quickly disappeared

"What is wrong with me? Strange dreams and now hallucinating?" Teras asked himself as he sat on his iconic bench

"It wasn't a hallucination, I saw it too" Clair said, she was sitting at the bench next to Teras's

Teras was startled, he didn't realize she was there

"Fancy seeing you here! Couldn't sleep either?" Teras asked to make himself not feel awkward

"You learned how to control mana now?" Clair asked out of the blue

"Yeah, Tokkou's maid taught me..." Teras remained silent for a little but then he asked a question that could probably cause him trouble

"Are you hating me for associating with Tokkou? I know he killed your parents but are you sure it was him? I mean he doesn't seem like a bad person to me!"

"What do you know? You weren't even born yet!" Clair said with a mad look on her face

After hearing that Teras inspected Clair and started to notice signs of being mature, he didn't really consider her grown up before because of her height

"Why don't you talk things out with Tokkou? If he actually did it then he wouldn't hide from you! He isn't that type of guy..."

"There is nothing for me to talk about it and I should have probably cut your head off for even suggesting that but it would be a waste, I never have seen somebody progress this fast, I would like to see who you are going to be in the future..." Clair said as she stared at Teras

Her eyes reminded him of the lone wolf he saw in the forest, the only thing these eyes expressed was the will of a hunter

"Then I don't need to talk to you anymore, you don't seem like you want to talk things out so I rather not associate with someone that is willing to kill one of my friends..." Teras said as he got up, he then started to walk away

While walking he suddenly felt a bloodthirsty aura behind him so with no hesitation he gripped his sword and slashed behind, surprisingly Clair was behind him and barely dodged that attack

"You should be more careful about the things you say Teras, because you don't know what kind of people roam this earth!" Clair said with a scary grin on her face

Teras knew he couldn't defeat her just by looking at her stance, so he tried hard to make peace with her before he enters the mansion

"I saw the way you moved on the street sometime before! You dodged and attack excellently, I kind of envied your movement there!" Clair said with a smile

"What's your point?" Teras asked as he pointed his sword at her

"My point is that you don't know how to fight but you have a good fighter sense, something that shouldn't be possible unless you fought a hundred... No, thousand of battles, so what's the deal with you? Are you a reincarnated former card possessor?" Clair asked

It was clear that she has lost it long before

"There is no such thing as reincarnation..." Teras said but deep inside he felt kind of weird

Memories of him running away came to his mind, he doesn't remember what was chasing him but he knew that a beam of light penetrated his chest and made him fall over a cliff

'I should have totally died there, if what I saw wasn't a dream then her theory could not be so off the mark...' Teras thought but immediately denied it in his head

'People can't return from the grave...' He thought as he took some steps back hoping he could make it out of here

"Oh no no! Now you can't leave! You will either help a lonely lady or die!" Clair said with a big smile while approaching Teras

'RUN'

His subconscious said so Teras started his mana flow and gave it all to run away

"Haha! This will be fun!" Clair said as he ran after him

Thanks to the city's structure Teras quickly hid in between buildings as he kept on running

Suddenly Clair appeared in front of him

"BOO!" She said as she charged at Teras trying to cut him down

Teras used his sword to deflect the attack and he then also grabbed Clair's coat and threw her over him, after doing that Teras continued running

"Oh my! You are really interesting prey Teras!" Clair said as she quickly recovered

Clair threw a dagger of hers at Teras but right before contact Teras turned around and deflected the dagger with his sword

Teras then reached a dead end with the only way to go is to jump off a relatively high cliff, under the cliff rested houses and another road that lead to the mansion so with no seconds to spare Teras clenched his teeth and jumped off

Before hitting the ground he enhanced his legs with as much mana as he could

'It strengthens the body, he said but it hurts as hell!' Teras thought as he continued running toward the mansion

But what he failed to do was to see that Clair was running on the side of the wall next to him, by the time he noticed Clair already had charged at him, kicking him and sending him meters away

Teras went into a restaurant from the window and exited it by using the other window on the other side of the restaurant, well it was not like he could control it, he simply flew uncontrollably from the attack, some ribs were broken and he also spat blood

If things weren't bad enough, Clair was waiting for Teras on the other side of the building to slice him up

'How fast is she?' Teras thought as his body flew toward her

But before he was sliced Teras thought of something, it was like his life flashed before his eyes but since he didn't have many memories moments he spend with Tokkou were all he could see

'I can't see the brightest star in the night sky if I die now, will I?' Teras thought before opening his eyes

Then to everyone's surprise Teras rotated his body in the air, dodging Clair's attack and also slicing her right cheek

"What..." She mumbled as she saw Teras move like that

Teras then stood up and continued running as fast as he could

'If I drive her close to the mansion maybe Tokkou could deal with her!' Teras thought as he didn't look back

It was the final street before Teras could reach the mansion but Clair was blocking it, she was much faster than Teras so she easily outran him

"You said you wouldn't kill people for no reason but it seems this is not your first time seeing how much you are enjoying it!" Teras said as he got ready to give his all

Clair smiled diabolically

"It is my first time..."

She is lying

Teras then charged at her with all of his might, but Clair spared him the time by dashing at him herself, her dagger and Teras's sword clashed, and the result? Teras's sword was broken

"Oh, your face is priceless!" Clair said as she laughed hysterically

Teras released the broken sword and attacked Clair, Teras still had a glimpse of hope

Teras punched and kicked Clair but he didn't do so much damage, in fact, Clair didn't defend, she didn't see Teras's attacks as a threat

"It's over kid!" Clair said as he caught one of Teras's kicks that was aimed at her head, she then was about to cut Teras's leg off

At this moment everything froze, it was simply Clair and Teras and an infinite white void, the only thing Teras saw was death...

"IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Teras screamed with D E T E R M I N A T I O N as he poured as much mana as he could into his fist, he then punched Clair's face sending her meters away, her nose also started to bleed

'I could see that coming so why didn't I dodge that?' Clair thought

The answer was simple...

For a fraction of second the roles between hunter and hunted changed making Clair feel powerless in front of Teras

Teras then started running as he held his damaged hand with his other hand

This attack made Teras's knuckles crack since the large amount of mana he put into the attack was purely for attack and not defending

After Teras reached the door of the mansion he banged at it maniacally

Thanks to him Becka was there to open the door for him

"Why the hell are you banging so loud for?" Becka asked, she had her pajamas on

Teras didn't say a word, he quickly got in, closed the door, and hugged Becka

"W-W-What are you doing?" Becka asked confused and embarrassed

"Don't let her get in..." Teras said with shock

'He is trembling...'

Becka was confused as to why he is this shocked but she didn't ask anything, she simply took Teras to the cooking room and made him something to feast, it was eggs with pork chops

"What were you doing outside?" Becka asked as she served the plate to Teras

"The assassin woman tried to kill me, I barely got away from her this time, but if there's ever a next time then I will be slaughtered!" Teras said calmly as he ate his eggs

"I see, I'm sorry you had to experience that, Tokko... I mean master is aware of the assassin but he didn't think it was a big deal, but sadly he can't deal with this now since he has some important work to do..." Becka said as she yawned, she still hadn't fully woken up

"I see then there is only one option..." Teras said as he got up

"... Make me stronger please Miss Becka! I can't possibly leave this mansion when someone this much stronger than me is hunting me, plus I don't know how many crazy people like her walk this earth so I need help! Help me be strong enough to survive!" Teras said as he bowed his head to Becka

Becka simply smiled

"Then leave it to me to make you a monster!"

Becka said with an excited expression on her face...