Chapter 3: Jack

I didn't sleep that night, as I didn't do a lot of nights. Those who absorbed energy, enhancing their bodies in the process, required a lot less sleep.

When dawn came I was just sitting on my bed, I didn't cultivate. Cultivating all the time could harm you if you used a sufficiently effective technique, which meant I would have a lot of time to my self. Usually, I would have used the time to train and fight against beasts, but as I decided to rest for a while I didn't have anything to do so I sat through the time just thinking about better times and such.

I stayed in the room until the whole sun was visible and another girl entered the room. "Ah, I see you're my new roommate. Linn right, I'm Sasha." She said while walking forward and placing her hand in front of me. I didn't have anything better to do, so I reached for her hand and shook it.

"I'll go to sleep if you don't mind, I've been outside for a while and haven't gotten any sleep for a few days." She said and threw herself on the other bed, soon being in deep sleep. It looked like she was very carefree, but I didn't mind it too much so long as she didn't pry too much into my life.

A knock was soon heard from the door, "Linn, are you awake?". I seemed to be Naoki so I went and opened the door. When I opened the door she stood there, "Hi!" then she saw Sasha lying in the bed, "Oh, it seems like you've already met each other.", I answered her with a slight nod.

She then became a bit more serious, "Well, what I came here for is to guide you to Jack, he's the leader of the Noirstem-group. We'll have to register you with him if you want to stay here." She almost looked a bit worried, but I just followed her as she led me through the streets and eventually to a building that had a garden and seemed a bit fancier than the other buildings, but still rather small.

We went up to the building and Naoki knocked on the door. "Come in!" A man's voice sounded from behind the door. When we went in I saw the man, he looked to be a middle-aged man with a bedhead black hair and an unkempt beard. He was sitting in a meditative position, he was most likely absorbing energy before we came. He then proceeded to open his eyes and stood up before us, but when his eyes came to me he got a concerned expression. "Naoki, it seems like you've brought a rather scary guest to me," he said and looked toward Naoki. She shot a confused look at both him and me and let him continue, "She's not your average rouge. She is often referred to as "The bloody princess". Let me tell you it fits her quite well.". Noaki was surprised, although she knew that I was strong, she hadn't thought that I was on her leaders level, who was, in fact, a very strong person.

I was quite intrigued, he seemed to know a lot about me. I had no clue who he was on the other hand. I looked at him and tilted my head. "Umm... You don't remember me, do you...?". I shook my head to his question. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed about that, "Uh, I know you didn't really pay any attention to others. But we were in the same squad for three months, you know...?". He looked a bit sad as he said this. I still couldn't remember who he was, though he seemed a bit familiar, that was it. "Whatever," He said and sighed, starting his introduction, "I'm Jack Awlks, the leader of the Noirstem-group. I hope you'll stay here, for at le-"

I suddenly interrupted him, "Ah! I remember now, Lil' Awlky." I'd been trying to remember who he was the whole time, then I finally came across a funny memory. He had actually asked me out once but was brutally rejected.

He was a bit startled when he heard his former nickname, and then he looked down, embarrassed. Noaki, on the other hand, had no clue what was going on, "Uhm... Sir?". He came out of his daze and spoke, "Naoki, could you go? I would like to speak with her alone if possible.".

"S-Sure." She answered and walked out, albeit reluctantly, it seemed she was very interested in the backstory between me and Jack.

When she had left he continued, "Uh-hum... You won't tell anybody about that time, right?". He said uncertainly while looking around to make sure no one was around, even though we obviously were the only ones there.

I actually found it a bit funny, "Hmm? What could you possibly mean?" I said in a knowing tone but tilting my head a bit as if I didn't know what he was talking about, I was planning on teasing him by making him say it out loud. It didn't take him long to understand that he would have to say it out loud. "About... The confession, I hope you don't say anything that ruins my reputation in the camp.".

I chuckled a bit and then answered him, "Sure.". He couldn't even sigh, it was his first time seeing me even remotely smiling. He was a bit stunned, but soon came back to reality. "You should really smile more, you know?" He said, scratching his head and sighing.

"..."

Memories came up, but I quickly suppressed them. It wasn't an especially good time to reminisce about the past at that moment.

A man then came and slammed on the door, "Jack! A very powerful beast is coming in the direction of the camp!". Jack immediately stood up and went to open the door, "You can't handle it?" he asked and his face twisted a bit. "Sir! The scout team would have all died if the beast didn't ignore them! They said it would be here in about five minutes!".

Even I got a bit concerned when I heard this. Only beasts that are powerful ignore pray it finds too weak, although not all of them would be powerful enough to take on this "camp", a rare few of them were.

Jack then turned to me, "If I can't kill it, please do help me.". Before I could say anything Jack had already taken his Halberd and the two of them ran away toward the other side of the camp.

"I guess I could help..." I muttered to myself and dashed off, following them stealthily on the buildings' roofs. It felt as if he didn't expect anything from me, which unconsciously made me a bit annoyed. Even if I was cold most of the time, I still had some emotions buried within me, even without me really knowing about it. His remark about my smile had actually made me a bit happy.

We soon arrived at the edge of the camp, waiting for the beast to come to us. The other man left and Jack was standing there alone, it seemed like he would face it alone.

I decided to only intervene if he couldn't defeat it, only fighting could give experience when it came to combat.

A cry could then be heard from the forest outside of the camp and a big beast come out. It had dark-brown fur, black claws, and it looked to be some kind of a mix between boar and a bear. It also had two bloodied tusks coming out of its mouth. I could sense that I was stronger than it, but when comparing it to Jack, I was unsure of who would win.

The beast shot like a mad bull toward him as soon as it saw him. Jack readied his halberd, and when the beast was in range, he stabbed forward with incredible might, aiming in the middle of its face. The beast, however, was fast enough and managed to use one of its tusks to parry the blade coming for it without stopping its charge.

This made Jack forced to roll away to the side. He quickly stood up after the roll, pointing the halberd toward the beast which had just charged past him and was looking at him cautiously. It seemed the beast had now become cautious of what it thought was pray.

There was a stalemate until the beast became impatient. It charged yet again, but this time it didn't try to use its tusks, it tried using its black claws to slash at him. Jack then used his halberd to slash at the big claw coming for his life. He managed to cut into the flesh of the beast, making blood splatter on the ground, but the impact forced him off balance. The beast made use of this instance and slashed with its uninjured paw. Jack just barely managed to save his life using the pole of the halberd as a shield, but this made the impact harder on him and he flew toward the forest about ten meters before eventually crashing into a thick tree making it crack.

Jack coughed out some blood when he hit the tree, and the beast was already charging at him again. This time however Jack managed to use an opportunity when the beast slashed at him. While he defended against the slash with the pole of his halberd, he simultaneously struck it forward and managed to make a deep cut on the shoulder of the beast causing it to release a roar of pain.

I didn't end all that well for Jack though, he was smashed to the ground by the might behind the beast's claws. It seemed he had broken many bones in the process though, his shoulder was visibly dislocated as well. On his face was a pained expression as he screamed a horrible shriek to the ground.

The beast was about to finish him off, so I was forced to step in. I quickly dashed in behind the creature making a big cut on its neck. Blood splattered everywhere and drenched me in its iron-like stench, though it wasn't dead yet, I hadn't managed to cut att the way through.

The beast that had just been about to finish its prey off, was angry at the disturbance. It turned its body slashing at me, but I was already gone. I had gone around it and slashed toward it again, but this time, cutting in the already severe wound, I was able to almost sever its whole head. There was only a single piece of flesh left that held the body together. Blood started pouring on the ground making my feet all sticky from it. Jack was still in immense pain but could see that he had been saved, "T-Thank you." he said in a hoarse voice.

He laid himself down on the bloody ground, trying to relax. He fixed his dislocated shoulder with a hard push causing him to give out a pained grunt.

It was then I felt my senses giving of a signal of danger, and far within the forest in front of me, I saw beasts, beasts in the thousands.