7 Chapter 6- A fight to behold (part 2)

<Aria's POV> <from the point where the bandits were inside the wall of statues>

I just wanted to go on a trip to the outside world with Brother Elijah and to get away from the castle for a bit, why was this happening. If only I wasn't such an idiot and listened Seito, we wouldn't have to had to deal with such a situation.

The more time passed the more he seemed to be getting worse. I was getting agitated, I thought "I don't care if I get scolded or punished for this, please. Get us out of this Nightmare."

But, what is wrong with those bandits, it's completely different from the stories father used to tell me. I thought bandits were weak and stupid and only a few of them knew magic and even among those only few had the capability of reaching 2nd tier, compared to the nobles who learn 2nd tier by the age of 7 they are only worth fodder. The large bandit was able to block my 2nd tier spell easily and even destroy Seito's 3rd tier earth barrier, which survived the barrage of fireballs of 2nd tier was easily destroyed by their leader who used the same 2nd tier spell. And now even against brother Yukiyo, who had killed off armies in seconds from the stories I've heard, they actually casted a 7th tier spell blocking his original spell, <Crimson arrow>.

"Father, Bandits are scary."

And, as one Statue broke another statue kept emerging one after another. I knew brother Yukiyo was strong but he had already broken through 30 statues and it didn't seem to be stopping.

As I glanced at him, his face had a serious look and his gaze cut deep. He was scary... But he was the only one we could depend on right now.

As I looked down, Seito regained his consciousness. He was a bit weak but he seemed fine. In a soft voice he said, " Mistress, H-how long was I out for." At that moment I was just happy that he was all right and I just broke into a cry apologizing to him.

"I- Immm Sowwwyyy Seh-Seeitohhh!!!!" I wailed, but my apology was cut short.

"Shhhh, Not now Aria, Mommy is doing important work right now."

"h- *sniff* -Huh?"

Mixed feelings emerged as Brother Yukiyo spoke in a weird manner. Seito unaffected by it, he spoke, "I'm sorry Master Yukiyo. It's my fault, I should have explained things better. If anyone shoul-"

Brother Swung his left hand sideways as a gesture abruptly stopping Seito, there was a brief moment of silence with only the sound of explosions coming from him shooting at the bandits.

"Seito it's not your fault... this dumb sister of mine is really a handful. She is irritating, speaks in a vulgar way, doesn't even study and always causes trouble for others. But I'm surprised she was unharmed by the time I arrived, all I can say is. Thank you for your service Seito Ewinder. We can discuss details later, rest easy now I'm here for you two."

His usual demeanor returned as he spoke again.

The battle was still on but his words calmed me down as tears flowed, I apologized to him saying, "I-I'm Sorryy Nii-san. I-I will b-be *hic* a g-guud-"

"Be on your guard. Those bastards seem to be coming. This is gonna be tricky"

The wall of Stone knights crumbled as 7 figures emerged from the cloud of snow and dust. With the leader holding a half cut cactus.

<Seito's POV> <continuation of Aria's POV>

It seemed that those thugs had eaten the cactus. Lady Aria seemed to be clearly not taking it well. She had tear's in her eyes while repeating the words "onii-chan's cactus".

What's Onii-chan though?

She seems to be in quite a shock to be speaking in a different language. The leader and the other thugs seemed to be uninjured. I didn't know what happened while I was out, but they seem to be dangerous enough to be uninjured from Master.

I glanced at Master who had a weird expression on his face. He seems to be happy about something.

They exchanged a few words, but it was short.

I'm not one to judge.

But master seems rather not himself, or maybe this is his true self. The thugs looked determined. This was not going to be as easy as I thought. I hope my feelings are wrong.

One of the thugs jump towards Master recklessly, but he was shot down by a crimson arrow in an instant but not before he threw both the swords at him, which he dodged easily, the thug fell down making a hole in a pile of snow and didn't move.

Suddenly, using the first thug as a distraction the two thugs jumped him from behind. They were grabbed by the roots which burst from the ground, but they also threw their swords at master, which he dodged easily.

It was weird how they did the same attack twice, but it didn't work. Were they desperate?

The thugs were dragged underground by the roots and only ones left were the boss and his 3 henchmen. The 3 henchmen were running around Master in circles while dodging the roots.

As I was looking at the ones running around, I suddenly noticed that man who was shot first was becoming mud.

"Was that a clone? Wait, where is the leader?" I thought, they clearly weren't your average bandits. They had a plan and I didn't like it one bit.

Master's expression was also serious. He also seemed to have noticed. Suddenly the man came out of Master's shadow and grabbed him from behind. The 6 swords that were thrown were starting to glow and a magic circle and seals started to appear forming a 2 triangle star. He was trying to move but the man turned into a golden coloured stone and he couldn't get out. All 6 of the thugs came and jumped at Master but they were pierced by the roots. All of them seemed real and with their last bit of strength, they threw their swords around his feet in a circle.

I had a really bad feeling about that, Aria was still in shock from these events, and my body is not listening to me.

"MISTRESS!!" I shouted. She suddenly snapped out of confusion. "Shoot at one of the swords!" I said. She was scared and reluctant but we didn't have time for it. I had to short precise and clear to reach her, "SHOOT AT THE GODDAMN SWORD!!!"

Aria hastily got up and stretched both hands in front of her and shouted <Wind Drill>

The final man was standing outside the spell circle. Luckily, me and Aria were standing behind the carriage even though the others noticed us, we were still out of his site and he was more concerned with Master. He spoke in a grim tone, "Finally, it's complete, High 7th tier destruction spell, <Phantasmal Rain of Blades>"

Suddenly the clouds covering the sky became darker. 12 black shades appeared from the shadows holding a sword each. Master stood there held down by the golden statue, he wasn't moving, rather he didn't seem to even try to move.

Aria finally finished charging up <wind drill> and shot quick and fast, the man couldn't react fast enough to prevent it and by the time he knew, the drill already reached one of the blades breaking the spell. The shades vanished before they could begin attacking.

Even though she was scared the Mistress certainly progressed a lot.

The girl burst into tears when the man glared at her. He looked furious. He then looked at Master, but then he looked surprised, he shot Master with a spell which pierced through. The man was surprised, both of us.

He ran to the golden statue to see what had happened. Then suddenly Master appeared from the ground below piercing the man with his spear. He got stuck at the jagged ends of the spear so the shaft of the spear didn't pierce through. He lifted him, swung him around and threw into a nearby tree. Before he could fall down Master rushed him again piercing him in the chest.

He said, "You're surprisingly good at planning, Mr. Leader. You even forced me to move and use a weapon. If you hadn't been a bandit you could have had a high position in the military." The man was in a bad state as he was bleeding profusely from his chest. He spoke while coughing, "dammit.. *cough*"

As the golden stone statue crumbled in the distant, he continued, "All of my men are dead and I couldn't even land a hit."

Something started to move on the ground behind Master.

"Do not worry, after all, it was impossible for you lot from the [Master look out!!] beginni-"

He was suddenly pierced by another man who burst from the ground below. One of the six men Master had pierced changed into mud. The man who was thought to be the leader was laughing. Aria couldn't handle looking at his invincible monstrous brother being stabbed. She dropped to her knees as tears started to stream from her eyes but her voice wouldn't come out. Whether it was out of fear or shock, she couldn't move. I couldn't move but I knew such small attacks couldn't kill him.

The man mocking master laughed, as he said, "Haaaah....*cough* you were saying something." Then he fainted. The other man who was piercing Master said, "Good job... now you can rest."

Master jumped forward throwing away the man while turning towards the man while holding the dagger.

He was visibly furious and he shouted, "YOU ASSHOLE!! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG SCARS TAK-" Realizing that he lost his composure he calmed himself down, and spoke, "*Ahem* Sorry about that. You have earned my respect. Being able to strategize like that. Even if it was a fluke, kindly introduce yourself!!!" He said it while pulling the dagger out. The leader looked a little surprised.

"Benjamin Skitzor, Leader of these men. It's a pleasure to have such worthy opponent"

Master smiled as he said, "Benjamin... you are the first man to pierce me in 3 years. I didn't think I would be seen in a sorry state until I was old and was stabbed in the back by one of my kids but here we are."

Benjamin looked irritated, he spoke, "What the hell is wrong with you? Stop speaking in those weird ways. I am here for a fight to the death, I'm having a moment right now. Don't ruin it."

"I don't get it?", spoke master in a puzzled manner.

Yukiyo started spinning around his spear extremely fast, so fast that lightning was being generated striking nearby rocks. The air blew at high speeds around Master, he then stopped his spear while slamming the base to the ground. the tip was glowing with a Crimson glow with red lightning being emitted from it. The ground was scorched black.

He then smiled as he said, "But you're totally getting off this right?"

The leader chuckled a bit, as he said, "Let's just do it"

Surprised, Master said, "Let's Quite in a hurry eh? Well, for you I am gifting you death with my 7th strongest attack"

"I couldn't be happier..." the man took out his blades which powered up with magic, as he stood in a fighting position " *cough* lets do this!!"

The tension was really high, I couldn't hear a sound except for some sparks flying from master's spear and the howling wind in the distant. Their eyes were focused on one another looking for even a brief moment of opening.

Suddenly they both dashed at each other and the match was decided in an instant.

A large explosion of black fire and red lightning scorched the earth. A large cloud of dust erupted as they clashed. A wall of roots emerged all round them to block the shock wave of their clash. But the roots flew in all directions getting destroyed by the shockwave. A few of them flew into the carriage destroying it but we were saved by it. Now, only a pile of torn up roots and a cloud of dust stood before us.

The dust cloud slowly cleared up with the silhouette of my master standing tall with his shoulders pierced by the daggers. He was looking down. And when the dust finally settled, I could see the leader lying on the ground with his left chest and arm, completely destroyed. His mask was gone and his hood had slipped down. Master had a surprised look on his face. While the man on the floor was smiling.

"Benjamin, even though I was a little careless at first, to harm me 3 times in a row. You have proved that it wasn't a fluke, I'm sorry that I couldn't use a stronger skill to give more respect to you"

The leader laughed as he said,"*cough* Say Crimson Phantom, you are a human right?" Master surprised by the question, questioned, "Yes, What's your point?"

To which, he replied, "Nothing much *cough* Just that I know your secret." Master looked like he was surprised. The leader continued "Don't worry I'm not gonna tell anyone your secret, it's a promise from one slayer to another"

The man breathed his last breath.

Master spoke in a sad tone, "Idiot, what's the point of promises when you're already dead"

The hole opened up beside him as the roots pushed the body into the hole.

<Cactus' POV>

I was able to make out what was happening through the sound but I was unable to see everything. I slipped out of the leader's pocket when he pierced Yukiyo with both his sword and his clothes got torn off by the spear.

I didn't expected the leader to be this strong, Leader Benjamin... I'll never forget about you...

The girl slowly walked towards Yukiyo looking worried. She was supporting Seito on her shoulders. She was a still crying and could hardly speak.

"Ni-Nii-san *hic* aa- a-re *sniff* you o-okay?" she stuttered.

He approached them and sighed, "Yeah, I still don't get it. Except for these two blades in me... I'm pretty good! Seito is probably in a worse state than me"

The man came walking towards me and picked me up. He looked a little worried.

"hmmm... so you people were here for this. Too bad they did quite a number on this. And why did you come here for this little cactus." He continued.

The girl had calmed down a little, she mumbled, "Im sorry... I promise not to do anything like that again...*sniff* ... Brother Elijah was sending out Seito so I decided to go with him."

"Hmm... I'm gonna have to have a good chat with Eliz on this one. Aria and Seito's innocence was on the line this time." he teased. Aria and Seito didn't get it but I sure as hell got it.

And like that he threw me into a hole. "Ah, don't worry about the cactus he was already on the verge of death. He'll become food for the insects" He reassured the others.

As I fall underground those words.

The last words I heard from him.

"Me

already on the verge of death...

that man he threw me into this pit...

like trash.

It's so deep." Thoughts were running in my mind.

*crash*

"You always appeared at bad timings... huh."

I didn't knew where I was. I reached the bottom and seems like a dead body cushioned my fall. It was rather dark around but I could only see two lights. One from above, and one emitted from the pocket of the dead body.

*slosh slosh*

I heard something, but I couldn't see in the darkness clearly.

*squish slosh*

The sounds are getting more louder and more disgusting...

I saw a larva moving on top of the man... then came another ... and another... and another.. and another... and 10 of them gathered near the pocket towards the light. They started chewing on the cloth tugging on it. The crystal became visible and fell down the floor. There I watched from the top of a corpse, thousands of eggs, hundreds of larva, many giant insects and many huge queens laying eggs.

"I-I-I am inside an insect ...hill? society?..farm??... I don't know what kind of species are here..."

I thought I knew fear.

"I shouldn't have put my skill point. I should have just waited for the caterpillar to eat me so that I wouldn't be appealing to those kids."

There I stood in a vast sea of mindless enemies before me, who could eat me anytime. I was completely at their mercy. Maybe this world is too hard for me.

To top it off I didn't have any reason to live in the first place.

I don't have any relations, no family members. I wasn't tied to this world by anything, nothing.

"No."

I had lost my memories but I shall not lose myself.

I didn't have a goal.

I just accepted life the moment I was reborn and took it for granted.

If I wanted I could have just ended it before but why.

Why did I tried to survive.

"Cause I could"

But I don't even know if I can survive this.

"I can't give up that easily."

But, then what, I don't even have a reason to live.

"I'll come to it when it happens."

I don't even have a goal.

"I'll make one"

I don't have memories to even think of one.

"Then I'll make it my goal"

What then.

"I'll find another"

Like what.

"That man who threw me away like garbage, into a pit full of insects, to die. Like, I had no worth. Like, I was an eyesore."

I can remember his face.

"I will get my revenge on him."

I will grow stronger.

"I will become greater than him."

I will kill him.

"I will murder him"

I will survive

"BRING IT ON."

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