7

His feet kept moving, disregarding what they stepped on. Even though his breaths became shorter, his head felt dizzy, and his legs screamed for a moment's rest, the man in all-black clothing refused to stop. Sweat drenched his body, but he kept going until he finally emerged from the forest.

Gasping for breath, his vision slightly blurred, the man stopped running once he had successfully exited the forest. He felt incredibly lucky to have escaped the danger that was right in front of him.

"That was close..." he muttered, slowly regaining his breath. His mind, once chaotic, now cleared as he felt safe. Without taking much time after his fear disappeared, he returned to his normal self. "Sorry, but I won't follow what you said!"

He immediately resumed his movement. His breathing returned to normal, and he walked with his hands in his pants pockets.

***

Gazing at the moon and stars scattered across the sky while lying down in an open space in the middle of the forest, I finally understood how this could bring tranquility while being caressed by a gentle breeze. I closed my eyes, enjoying the calm and peaceful thoughts. Of course, until someone started shouting incoherently.

"Ars! Tell me that you deliberately released that man to lure Byron Nevaeh here, right?" Neville said, slightly annoyed with Ars acting as he pleased.

I covered my ears, refusing to listen. "You were the one who said you wanted revenge, right? I think this is the fastest way. I don't like owing promises to anyone."

"Damn it! I'll defeat them all with my own two hands!"

"Shut up! The sound coming out of your mouth pierces my earplugs!"

You were so confident in winning, why have you been worried all this time? Truly a strange person, making me want to strangle you right away.

"Hey, Ars. I want to make sure of something..." Suddenly, Neville sounded serious. "Will Keres Nevaeh's father also come with a large force tonight?"

"You're really foolish." I used my hands as a makeshift pillow once again. "He won't come tonight, especially with a very large force. It's almost impossible. Do you think it's that easy to gather a large-scale force overnight?"

"You're really getting on my nerves..."

"Blame yourself for being so easily deceived."

"But isn't it possible that he'll bring a small force to attack us tonight?"

"If he's foolish enough to do that. But in my opinion, he won't be able to attack us until tomorrow morning at the earliest. And even then, the number of his troops won't exceed a thousand."

"You say it as if it's so easy to defeat a thousand soldiers."

"I'm quite confident. With Beast Thestral, it's a piece of cake!"

"In the end, you're relying on me, huh?"

***

As I had anticipated, Byron Nevaeh, the father of Keres Nevaeh, had come with his troops into this forest to hunt down Naville Donatien. However, the number of soldiers they brought was not as many as I had expected.

"It seems like I overestimated the nobleman named Byron Nevaeh," I said to Naville as I observed the number of soldiers brought by Byron Nevaeh from atop a cliff. "Their numbers are not more than a hundred, just like what Keres brought."

"But isn't there a possibility that he has spread his troops in all directions to surround us?" Naville replied.

"Yeah, that can be done if he has a telepath by his side. However, I am very confident that he does not have one."

Ignoring Naville, I immediately descended from the cliff, moving while hiding my tracks to approach Byron Nevaeh's troops. Like Naville, I also didn't believe that Byron Nevaeh would only bring this small number of soldiers overnight. Something was definitely amiss here.

As I stealthily approached, still concealing my tracks, Naville followed me. He seemed unwilling to be left behind, but I didn't pay attention to that and remained focused on what I was about to do.

However, now guess what I saw that left me speechless. I truly did not expect to see someone I knew who had become a dog of a nobleman. It was amusing, but I couldn't laugh.

"Hey, wait!" Naville exclaimed as I emerged from hiding and stood in front of Byron Nevaeh's troops.

It was too late; I now stood directly in front of Byron's troops, who immediately halted when they saw me jump in their path. However, my gaze was fixed on a man with long hair covering one of his eyes.

"Who are you?!" Byron Nevaeh exclaimed, clearly annoyed by our interruption.

Restraining Byron from getting angry, the man with long hair took a step forward and extended his left hand to the side. He said, "Long time no see, my brother—Ars. How have you been?"

"Brother?" Naville, who had appeared behind me at some point, spontaneously interjected.

"As you can see, Bro. I might die in your hands soon," I casually replied.

"That's him, Naville Donatien, the villain who killed my son!" Byron Nevaeh then pointed at Naville.

My brother, Nick Salazar, let out a long sigh and said, "You don't have to worry, Ars. I'm here just to deal with the young man hiding behind you. We won't harm you."

"Oh. How does it feel to be a nobleman's lapdog?" Honestly, I couldn't hold back my emotions that had already reached their peak. "Do you get special treatment? Delicious food? Comfortable home?"

It was clear that my brother's emotions were now boiling due to my words. "I tried to be a good brother to you, but you respond with such disrespectful words? Is this your attitude now, Ars?" He quickly caught a sword thrown by one of the soldiers.

"He looks very dangerous, Ars..." Naville whispered. "I don't think it's wise to fight him now..."

"Naville, I'm sorry, but I need your help to eliminate those lackeys. Let me face him alone." I was fully aware that my brother's strength was undoubtedly formidable. Even with my current power, I wasn't sure if I could truly defeat him with the sword I obtained from the fallen soldier.

I swiftly lunged forward, attacking without caring whether Naville accepted my request or not. Now, our swords clashed, creating a loud collision.

I stepped back, creating distance, then quickly lunged forward again. My brother also refused to merely defend; he swung his sword with full force, pushing me back quite far. It didn't stop there; he continued launching consecutive attacks, not allowing me to catch my breath.

We clashed swords for only a few seconds, but I had already exerted a significant amount of energy, until we once again created distance from each other. As expected from a nobleman's lapdog, he was indeed very strong. However, I would definitely defeat him no matter what happens!