No Thanks

"Wowww~ Look at that! It looks like you might finally be turning into something decent~" Noel teased James as he stood before her, breathing hard and covered in sweat. For the past hour, he had been fighting her nonstop trying to get an advantage or even close enough to attack her properly.

Much to his dismay, he had yet to even make so much as a dent in her posture let alone a cut on her body during a fight. In his mind, she was on another level compared to everyone else he had fought in the Inner Disciple area but it was to be expected since even the Elders in the sect treated Noel with respect.

At first, it had been Cara's job to train James with a sword but recently he had started getting more of an edge on her and even pushed her back one time which made Noel step in crushing all of his hopes that he thought were about to come to fruition.

If Cara was an insurmountable mountain then Noel was an entire galaxy to climb when it comes to raw power and fighting knowledge. James had no idea how either of them had learned so much during their lives but decided not to ask since the one time he did Noel kind of shrugged him off which was not her usual 'tell James anything he wants to know' attitude.

"I-if this is just becoming decent to you then I have a- l-long way to go." James smiled as his legs finally gave out making him take one knee as he squatted on the ground in defeat.

Noel chuckled as she slowly walked closer to him leaving her guard down before speaking once more, "Don't worry love I'll make sure you're more than just decent by the end of your training~ I will make sure to be very thorough~" Noel said seductively before suddenly a sword sliced right past her hair and a blade ended up beside her neck.

Noel was momentarily shocked by the sudden movement before she realized James had taken his sword and jumped her by surprise, "If I'm not passed out then I'd never quit~" James said with a big smile.

Noel's smile quickly dropped as a surprised look appeared on her face. She had never expected James to pull a move like this considering he took advantage of her kindness in a way but she was nonetheless impressed. It was going to take a ruthless and brains like that to make it far.

However, even though she was impressed it didn't make her any less mad that he got the jump on her, "Oh really?~ Guess I need to finish the job then." Noel said with an angry expression and she suddenly let the Qi within her burst out of her body shocking James as his body shot back slightly moving the sword off Noel's neck.

With James stunned Noel immediately spun her body jumping in the air before kicking James in the head making his head snap back so fast that his neck nearly snapped but Noel had her strength set just to the point he passed out.

*****

"Look at what you did! Do you see the huge bruise on his head?! You were supposed to be training him but you just ended up hurting him!" A voice shouted around James as he groggily began regaining consciousness.

"It's not my fault he caught me by surprise~, In my opinion, it was showing my love a compliment that he had made it to the next level of sword fighting~ Plus you act like you didn't enjoy giving him a bath when he was fast asleep from me. You're lucky I let your skanky hands even touch his beautiful body." Another voice said with clear anger in jealousy as they mentioned the last part.

"Let me?! We had a deal that whoever ended up losing a fight to him first would let the other do that the next time the opportunity arose! I only had a small cut on me while you were completely obliterated!~" The person speaking this time was the same as the first and they began laughing hysterically as they mentioned the person that had beaten the other.

"It's not my fault he was so adorable when he was trying so hard. I wanted to get closer and have a slight draft of that smell. I guess he truly is my kryptonite~" The other girl said seductively to herself as she thought about the person in question.

"Ughhh.." Suddenly James' head began throbbing from a pain in the side of his head catching the attention of the girls who took the cloth off his face.

"Oh it looks like you're awake~" Noel said with a smile as she looked at James in the eye while he tried to let his eyes readjust to the light. It was at this moment everything came back to him on what happened before he was knocked out.

"Well, I guess I will just stay on the ground next time." James chuckled as he held the side of his head, making Noel laugh immediately while Cara was more concerned and condemned the action.

Things like this continued for multiple weeks as James prepared for the tournament. During this time Patriarch Colton also got a letter from the Patriarch of the Steel Venom sect.

From what Noel was able to hear and tell James the letter had asked that they return the two elders they had captured at once and they would hand over Second Elder to Patriarch Colton without any issues.

The messenger that gave the letter was also the person that had been assigned to help guide the elders back but when it came time for the escort later that day the man was just given the heads of the two elders to return to the Patriarch.

"You think I won't kill that piece of trash later anyway? Fuck you." Patriarch Colton said in anger as he watched the messenger run away in fright back to his sect.