Chapter 15: Is This Your All?

Luna and Neo were done with their shopping now and since there wasn't anything else for them to do there, they decided to start making their way home.

They seemed to have bought a lot of stuff as Luna's basket was full now forcing her to properly hold it with her left hand but that wasn't all.

Arsha was carrying a black plastic bag filled with stuff with her bag in his other hand.

He had been quiet since they walked out of the alleyway, just following and watching her buy stuff without saying anything unless he was required and now that they were heading home, he still wasn't saying anything.

"With all of these, it'll be a while before they have to restock." Luna smiled as they made their way down the road.

She slowly turned to Neo at that moment to see that he was still walking with his gaze down, anybody would be able to tell that something was bothering him.

"Hey." She called before suddenly stopping.

"What is it?" Neo responded abruptly before stopping alongside her.

She wasn't too quick to say anything as she stared him straight in the eye for a while before taking a deep breath.

"Do you want to talk to me about something?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"I just think you're acting a bit off today, the only time your mood has been this gloomy was after you didn't awaken your ability, you're usually hyped up for stuff like this." She remarked. "What's the problem?"

He opened his mouth to answer that question but nothing ended up coming out so he closed it.

"You're worried about me, is that it?"

"Huh?" He gasped.

"Well, that's the only logical conclusion I could come up with since you've been spying on me a lot recently." She uttered.

"You knew about all that?" He asked with a shocked expression on his face.

"Yes." She nodded. "At first, I thought you were doing it for some other reason but your expression didn't really match that."

'I can't believe she knew all this time and pretended not to notice.'

He felt a soft hand on his head at that moment and looked up to see his mother smiling at him.

"Listen, Neo, there's no reason for you to be worrying about me like that, your mom's perfectly okay, you have better things to do than worrying about me." She articulated. "Or should I say, you're forty years too young to be worrying about me like that?"

He wanted to smile after hearing her say all of that but instead, he proceeded to bring his gaze down.

"But…"

An image of him holding onto her mother's hand on her bed just minutes before she died suddenly flashed in his mind at that moment.

"Do I look like my health's in decline?"

"Huh?" He responded before looking up at her.

"That's another response to the question you asked me seven years ago." She remarked. "So tell me, do I look like my health's in decline?"

"No, not really." He shook his head.

"Then there's your answer, I understand that you feel like something's going to happen to me for some reason but you have to listen to me, I'll be okay, we'll always be together, that's a promise."

"A promise?"

"Mhm." She nodded.

"Now wipe that gloomy look off your face, you look better when you smile." She said with a smile.

He didn't feel like it, but for her sake, he was able to force a smile onto his face.

"That's more like it." She uttered, pinching his left cheek. "Now, let's hurry up and get back or Aina will yell at us for being late, that girl doesn't have any problem scolding anyone."

Neo followed, sticking right beside her, the sad expression still lingered but after everything she just said to him, he would be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit better.

_______ ________

Neo stopped spying on his mother after they returned from shopping that day and although he was still worried that something terrible might happen, he wanted to believe in her words.

After all, this world was different from his other one in a lot of different ways despite their similarities and his current mother was clearly stronger than the one from his old world despite their physical and personality similarities.

Believing in her words ended up paying off as he ended up going the entire year without anything happening to his mother or anyone else for that matter.

He was eleven years old now and everything was still in one piece for him.

Turning eleven without anything happening to his mother really lifted a huge weight off his shoulders and with that weight gone, he was beginning to go back to his former self.

Because of that, he was looking to finally settle the score with someone.

Someone challenged him to a sword duel last year when his mother was all he had in mind despite her assurance that she was going to be okay.

Aina thought it would be a good idea to teach him a lesson and get him to focus on his training more so she challenged him to a sword duel and effortlessly overpowered him.

Neo didn't really care about the loss back then because he had more important things to worry about but now, that didn't seem to be the case.

It was a clear and bright morning, a condition under which Neo thought it would be perfect to settle the score.

Both of them were standing opposite each other in his usual training spot with normal long swords in their hands and the other two maids alongside Luna watching from the side.

"I don't know why you're so adamant about doing this again when it's obvious you're going to lose," Aina remarked before pushing her right foot forward a bit.

"I guess you didn't notice, but I wasn't giving it my all back then." He retorted, slowly raising his sword a bit to point it toward her.

"And I'm guessing you're going to give it your all now, hmm." She uttered, getting into her stance with her sword pointing downward toward the left. "Let's see how far that's going to get you."

There was a moment of silence between the two as a calm breeze blew past them carrying with it some of the leaves from the tree near the garden.

The two nodded right at that moment before Neo charged straight toward her, going for a vertical slash just as he got to her.

Aina was fast enough to quickly lift her sword, parrying his sword upward before going for a quick thrust.

The duel would have ended there with how fast she was able to pull that off by Neo was able to escape just in the nick of time by jumping back.

"Well, you've certainly gotten faster." She smiled. "However, that won't be enough to save you."

She charged straight toward him, getting to him before he could properly brace himself, however, he was able to block her diagonal slash.

Things didn't stop there though, as she slashed again this time from the left and although he was also able to block that one, it was a very shaky block.

'She's too fast, if she keeps striking like that, I won't be able to parry and counter her strikes. Was she holding back in our last duel?'

At the moment, the two were locked in a clash with Neo trying to push her back but she didn't seem to be budging.

"Is this really what your all amounts to?"

She quickly slid her sword down his at that moment, knocking it up just after that before pushing him back with a matching kick.

The kick sent Neo sliding back but he was able to keep his feet on the ground with his left hand on his chest now and his breathing starting to accelerate.

'I hate to admit it, I'm no match for her when it comes to swordsmanship but still….'

He took a deep breath at that moment before slowly raising his sword with both hands.

"You're the one that asked for it."

"Huh?"

He charged straight at her at that moment, getting to her in just a mere second.

He went for a vertical slash just like the first time causing her to attempt to counter just like she did last time.

However, there was something different this time. Her attempt to parry his sword upward ended up hitting nothing but the air.

"Huh?" She gasped. "A faint?"

What Neo did was slowly glide his sword away from hers toward the right just before she could hit and now he was going for a horizontal strike from that angle.

"It's over." He grinned.

However, just at that moment, his sword was meant with a clang.

"Don't be so sure."

It was supposed to be over there but Aina was fast enough to spin her sword to get it to face downward before pushing it down just in the nick of time to block his sword.

"So, that's your trick now, a faint?"

She pulled her sword back at that moment jumping back herself.

'Yeah, and there's still more where that came from.' He snapped inwardly.

He charged straight at her slashing at her from the right as fast as he could and as expected, she was able to block that.

He pulled his sword back and attacked from the left this time but just before his sword could clash with hers, he glided it toward the left and stabbed it into the ground before placing both of his hands on it.

He used it as a propeller to get behind her in an attempt to kick her with both legs and get her on the floor.

He thought he had landed the kick when she suddenly grabbed him by both legs and slammed him on the floor kicking up a bit of dust in the area.

The dust blocked his view for a while and when it finally cleared out, he found Aina standing there, her sword pointed at his throat.

"Is this your all?"