Rolling it Forward

Tylem was waiting outside the club's wide crystal-clear door on a bench, keeping an eye out for her in his peripheral vision.

He sat outside because he did not wish to distract Lynne from her game. Right now, he could not see those five idealistic boys who Kaden had gathered. Likely, they had gone home. School had ended, after all. It was getting late as well.

Lynne did not keep Tylem waiting for long as she rushed toward him the second the match finished.

"My feet hurt, brother." Sitting down on the bench with Tylem, Lynne giggled, her cute face red from over-exertion.

Right after, Lynne kicked off her shoes as she began to knead and massage her feet.

"Ow!"

Moments later, Lynne yelped from the sore pain.

"Don't overdo it, Lynne." Bending down, Tylem gently rubbed his sister's petite snowy bare feet.

"AH, stop!" Lynne pulled her feet away. "I'm dirty."

"You're my sister." Tylem smiled on one knee. "How could I find you dirty?"

[Compared to all the filth in the world, you're far too pure.]

"Then... can brother get me a drink?" Flushed, Lynne came up with something random to get Tylem to stop; she did not want her great big brother to do such lowly things for someone like her.

"Of course." Tylem nodded as he went to grab a cold drink from the nearest soda machine for Lynne.

Looking at the massive variety and possible selection, Tylem knew that Lynne loved drinking apple juice, even more so if it was 100% fruit concentrate. It was one of her favorite drinks.

Soon, he finally found what he was searching for. In Ivla, the everyday soda machines had such top-notch beverages available at all times.

When he walked back, Tylem noticed Lynne suddenly shivering on the wooden bench, and he followed her eyes.

"Lynne...?"

In his view, he saw two tall boys in the distance who both had fierce facial features, and their arms were huge for thirteen-year-olds.

The bottled apple juice was still in his right hand as Tylem stood in front of Lynne, who had her face down.

Remembering how Lynne had described the boys who had dumped rubbish on her, Tylem realized the labeled appearance matched these two boys very well. No, rather—it was identical and perfect.

The two culprits who dragged his little sister out by the hair to some shithole to kick and throw her around.

Unknowingly, apple juice began to leak onto his hand.

Soon enough, Tylem's entire right hand was covered in apple juice as his pitch-black eyes turned malicious.

"Drop."

The flattened bottle rolled on the concrete.

Since he would be beginning his plan tomorrow regardless, he no longer planned to hold himself back after hearing that Emily would back him the day prior.

So what if he pushed the revenge schedule a bit forward?

"Wait here," Tylem said. "I'll be back soon, Lynne."

"What, b-brother?" Lynne stuttered and tried to hold him back, but Tylem was long gone.

* * *

"Hey, yeah." James hooted, clapping, "Mason, did you see that fucking chick from earlier?"

"The hot mother who looked like a college girl?" Laughing, Mason whistled. "I wonder whose busty mother that was."

James and Mason had just finished their club's activities. These two fierce boys belonged to the boxing club. Currently, the two were heading to the parking lot to wait on their driver; there was a sweet party for them to attend tonight.

The party was organized by Onel, so the two planned to be on their best behavior while wearing the very best clothing. To their great fortune, James and Mason had managed to snag one of the few prestigious invitations because of doing a little favor for Ava around a week ago.

The entire week, James and Mason had been bragging about it to their friends. It was super amazing to be invited to the party, after all.

Perhaps, there would even be a chance for them to join Onel in the future? Just imagining that bright future made James and Mason grin.

Recalling the genius young master who led Onel, their eyes shone with countless stars. That legendary figure who hailed from the Lin Family... he could bring them to the summit with one word.

"I still can't believe we got the party invitations just for messing with that little bitch." Remembering Lynne's frightened face, James snickered.

"It's a shame though. She's quite the hot little slut." Mason grinned. "I wouldn't mind playing with her."

"Are you crazy?" James rolled his eyes. "Ava would kill us if we did that."

For some reason, Ava wanted them to inflict physical pain onto Lynne, but she also made it very clear that anything above some simple physical abuse was too far. It was contradictory. For example, anything sexual was not allowed. It was odd, but James and Mason didn't give a damn at the time.

In their eyes, the sole important thing was that golden invitation and all the endless opportunities that it brought.

Walking freely down the path, James and Mason continued to chat about the party, which included all their plans to mingle and ascend to the top.

Like this, James and Mason did not even notice the dark looming figure that stood behind them.

"Bam!"

Tylem smashed the boy's skull in, his wide-open eyes were full of malicious intent.

"James... t-the fuck?" Mason was shocked as he saw his best friend fall over in front of him.

"..." Tylem watched the boy's body flop to the ground like a bag of garbage.

Mason turned around, seeing Tylem's sinister expression that was akin to an archdemon from hell.

In this modern world, cultivators had the choice to be either a heroic savior—or the legendary demon itself.

Leaving no time for Mason to speak another word, Tylem swiveled into a near-perfect Kyokushin reverse roundhouse kick. The initial speed and power behind the kick were much greater than what Finlay could ever muster.

However, near the end, Tylem held himself back.

If he ended it like this, Mason and James would be getting off too easy after what they had done to Lynne.

The two weren't allowed to faint. These fuckers had to feel everything he had in store for them.

In the face of an absolute powerhouse, Mason did not even have the chance to exhibit all the tricks he had learned throughout his boxing journey.

To be more exact, he couldn't even get into a defensive stance in time. The kick soon collided with the right side of his body.

"Cluck." Sent spiraling to the ground, Mason heard the bones in his right arm breaking.

Standing above the two, Tylem ignored Mason's ear-piercing screams, and he squinted at the other boy who had his face down.

"Get up." Tylem sneered. "I know that I didn't hit you that hard."

"W-who are you?" Trembling, James realized that he couldn't act dead any longer.

The deep aura that Tylem was emitting was far too frightening.

"Please forgive us for whatever we did..." James began apologizing, hoping to sliver his way out of this situation.

Silently, Tylem watched James painfully pick himself up.

Shivering, James had a wry smile as he asked, "We won't tell anyone about this."

"Let's just end this here." Bending a full 90 degrees, James bowed.

[You have to be joking.] With a tap of his finger, Tylem pushed James back down.

In a flash, Tylem implanted his right foot on top of James' stomach, digging deeper and deeper.

Deafeningly, James shrieked.

Laid on the concrete, James began vomiting as he splurged out unknown liquids, "Urgh..."

Nearby, Mason was still rolling around, the pain of his broken arm pushing him to faint.

"Garbage, you're both so weak but so damn arrogant. Did you ever stop to think about how Lynne would feel?"

"Did you ever place yourself in her shoes?"

"Of course not." Tylem finally spoke up. "Because if you did and were even a bit human, we wouldn't be here right now."

Tylem, if need be, would even become the devil for his loved ones.

Realizing this was their final straw to clutch on, James and Mason simultaneously cried out. What the hell... all of this was because of the incident with Lynne a week ago? Wasn't it supposed to be a simple and quick job according to Ava?

"Hiccup, we're sorry for doing that to Lynne!" The face of Mason was covered in snot and tears.

"We regret it!" James cried like a baby. "We really do!"

These two bullies were fearful for their lives, trying to save their own skin.

Towards a stronger, frightening foe, as mere children, Mason and James could think of nothing but to cry and beg for forgiveness.

Mason and James were willing to do anything to get away from Tylem. [Please... just no more hitting.]

"Sorry?" Tylem's killing intent soared. "For what?"

[You're not truly apologetic. You two are just feeling sorry because of the pain and fear.]

"Because karma finally came?" Lowering his hand, Tylem picked Mason up from the chin.

"If 'sorry' could solve everything, the world would be fucked." For a while, Tylem allowed Mason and James to suffer from the screaming pain and mental torture. Then... after some time, he moved.

In one swift motion, Tylem slammed Mason's face back onto the cold, hard ground, colliding face-first. The intense smell of blood pervaded the air.

Mason, this middle-schooler, wasn't moving anymore.

In the next instant, Tylem moved onto James, who was literally wailing, and he didn't even stop to listen before knocking the 'fierce' boy down. Minutes passed, and he continued to beat both of the boys black and blue.

It seemed that the two blacked-out boys were hanging on by a mere thread, but Tylem knew that humans didn't die that easily, especially the persistent trash-type. Their bruised faces were worse off than pigs at this stage.

Tylem wouldn't take their lives of course.

Even though Tylem had undergone rebirth, he was still just an eighteen-year-old youth in his first life—not some cold-blooded killing machine. Right now, his mind was still subconsciously bound by the laws of modern society. It was a lifetime of being taught to think like that, after all.

Tylem lifted his foot once more, but a beautiful voice made him stop halfway.

"Brother... please stop. This much is enough." Finally working up the courage to jump in, Lynne walked closer to Tylem, and she tightly hugged him from behind. "I understand you're angry for me, but you don't need to go any further for me."

"No." Tylem grit his teeth, not yielding to Lynne's begging, and his powerful foot came crashing down on James' bloodied face once more. "Little Sister, you don't need to feel sympathy for trash like them. Don't ever shed your tears like that."

"Brother..." Lynne dreaded the thought of Tylem getting into trouble for her.

Lynne cried against his back, but Tylem continued to step on James' bloodied face. This lasted for a while until three security guards walked by and saw all the commotion.

"Child, stop that this instant!" The security guards roared. This was too far. If an Ivla student died under their watch, their life would be over!

In normal circumstances, the security guards would never interfere with the students, but this was getting way too dangerous.

Narrowing his eyes, Tylem saw the security guards who were equipped with holstered handguns.

"What's your name?!" The security guards were still hesitant, however. It was simple... because all the Ivla students had amazing statuses, so none of them moved in fear of offending a great person.

Clenching his fists, the handsome boy with silvery-black hair responded, "Tylem."

Suddenly, the eyes of the security guards enlarged. Then, out of the blue, all of them bowed and began apologizing.

"We're sorry, Young Master Tylem!" The security guards even saluted. "Please do continue with what you were doing."

The school board, which was comprised of their big bosses, had sent down specific orders to them about Tylem.

"..." Tylem was a bit surprised, but he wasn't too bewildered at their reaction.

This was likely Emily's doing. Tylem also recalled how the dean had treated him at their first meeting.

Once again, he wondered about Emily's status... Just who was she?

In the end, Tylem slowly took his foot off James. The sight of the guns had caused him to feel slight apprehension. Even though he was well above the average human, he did not have the confidence to dodge bullets.

This was too much of a hindrance. Tylem's urge to become stronger heightened even more.

Besides, Tylem saw that Mason and James had fainted long ago.

James and Mason wouldn't even dare glance in Tylem's way in the future.

With one final warning, Tylem didn't care if James and Mason could hear him or not.

"If you two even look at Lynne again, I'll kill you." The devilish voice floated by their ears.

"Psh." Tylem kicked their limp bodies across the ground once more as he gently took Lynne's pale hand to leave.

Emily should be waiting for them.

Right now, Tylem was covered in blood that dripped everywhere, and Lynne's heart was ripping apart.

The blood did not belong to her brother... but he had gotten himself in such an unsightly state because of her.

Since Tylem took Lynne's hand, her own white skin had also become bloodied, but she did not think about that at all.

Rather, a single thought remained within Lynne.

"For my family, I can't stay like this..."

Lynne's self-esteem had been broken down long ago, but she now realized and accepted that things had to change.

And that change would begin with her.