Two Separate Paths For Two Different People.

When Tearia watched that knife be thrown at her, fear froze her in place as the knife flew towards her but then she saw Xilo trying to actually protect her afterwards. "Idiot." That one thought echoed in her head as she watched him hopelessly trying to stupidly save her. "Why bother? What benefit do you get from it? Why are you....trying so hard..?" She saw how desperate he looked but to her it just didn't make any sense no matter how she thought about it and it always brought her back the same conclusion. "He's an idiot."

However she soon forgot about everything as the dagger got closer and closer as Tearia slowly gave up trying anymore. "It's pointless after all." To her their strength differences were obvious so she closed her eyes as she awaited her death. But no matter how long she waited there was still no pain. In the next second though a sharp cry echoed in her ears but weirdly enough it wasn't her own. Wondering what had happened she timidly opened her eyes to look.

In front of her stood Xilo who was covered in sword marks all over his body with his clothes ripped here and there as he panted and dripped sweat all over his back as layers of ice laid under his feet a couple of centimeters in front of him. That still wasn't what caught her attention the most though instead it was the knife sticking out of his body that she could see slightly sticking out from the side. Laying eyes on that she heard the soft sound of something slowly breaking inside her as her soft pained voice leaked out.

"Xilo!"

But he still didn't turn around or even look at her as he kept facing the man in front of him. At this point she was starting to regret. "Just give up." She wanted to scream that outloud but some part of her knew that it was pointless. But then she heard the man talking to Xilo. Hearing them talk a myriad of emotions went through her head until her eyes happened to catch sight of Xelfia on the ground still a little ways away and that was her breaking point.

Looking at Xelfia, hatred burned in Tearia to the point of almost exploding at that moment especially when she remembered that damn moment when she saw Xelfia and Xilo together as her anger came back again. "Slut, Whore, Hussy. Damned animal. Slutslutslutslut..." She had managed to keep her anger bottled up the whole day so far but seeing her still able to move in the distance Tearia was done holding it in. But seeing Xilo in front of her she managed to keep it in and calm down a little. Now she could only wait for this to end which wouldn't be far away seeing the state they were all in.

"I'll say it again. What do you mean."

Xilo's voice leaked out the same as before but by now it had lost its frost as he panted holding the knife inside him trying his best to even stand at the moment. "At least Tearia's okay, All I need is time." With time came healing and healing meant more energy for him. "But would it be enough?" The man in front of him still acted the same as before so he had no idea whether he was weak or tired now. "And to catch him off guard?" That was an impossibility at the moment. However in the next second Xilo heard heavy breathing that wasn't his. It wasn't feminine nor was it his so the only possibility he could think of was the man in front of him. "So he's affected more than he let on then. It's something at least." Smiling inwardly he settled down more and more preparing himself. It he was going to win it was going to take everything he had. Though one thought lingered in the back of his mind. "Can I really Kill him?" That was his main worry in the end.

But all those thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as Xilo focused again. Standing in front of him the man took out another dagger and played with it from afar almost as taunting him. "Are you kidding me." Panic ran through him as he realized their attacker had more then two daggers on him. "Can I really do anything to stop another?" But there was no use thinking about it anymore. He didn't have the energy to do that again if he went for Xelfia so he could only use his dagger to save her hopefully and if it went for tearia again "Well..." The man looked at Xilo with a mocking smile as pleasure welled up within him. He was enjoying this immensely and he was going to enjoy it even more as he looked between him and Tearia. "Well what does it matter anymore? This'll be over soon anyway." Smiling to himself he faced the boy again.

"I meant what I meant. You're an Idiot. Plain and simple there's nothing deeper behind it really."

"For protecting someone?"

"You got it. It's idiotic. Maybe if you didn't you could have won this fight."

Hearing the way he was talking Xilo felt like punching him across the Zone but couldn't so instead he got angry.

"And what let someone close to me die for it? I think you're the idiot if you think that trade would ever be worth it."

"Really kid do you honestly think that?"

"Of course how could I not, Tearia's my friend. I'm Not heartless like you seem to be."

"Heh, Friend eh?"

Hearing him laugh again Xilo was getting more and more frustrated because he didn't understand it. Even Xelfia off to the side who was quietly listening in while gathering her strength didn't understand what he was on about.

"What?"

"Stop Talking. Now."

Tearia's voice reached his ears as he looked at both of their expressions. Xilo's confused face and tearia's increasingly angrier look made him feel even more excitement and pleasure as he ignored her. She simply couldn't do anything anyways and these were the moments he lived for. The moments where he made people feel defeated and hopeless. It was one of the few joys he had left in his life after losing his family to those damned beasts. "Whatever, It's their fault they died anyway." ruining his mood slightly he got back on track.

"What I mean is I think you have a bad eye for friends, kid"

Speechless Xilo didn't know how to reply to that. Waving his knife in front of Xilo the man asked a question instead of answering him.

"Hey kid, Have you ever wondered why I'd show up here before you?"

"Because someone sent you of course."

"Sure that's one reason, But could my timing be so perfect and well thought out?"

Thinking about it Xilo kept wondering why he was asking such obvious questions. It didn't make any sense to him.

"Hmm....It seems you're not understanding. Let me put it like this then. Have you ever thought why your passed out friend over there was weaker than normal."

Pointing to Xelfia on the ground a little bit aways from him Xilo and especially Xelfia froze hearing his words. Seeing Xilo's surprise he basked in it giving Xilo a minute to think while staring at his reflection in his knife. He had all the time in this world After all, no one would interrupt them. Hearing that question Xilo could only acknowledge it. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it but over the course of their fighting he had assumed she was still a little tired from waking up plus the fact that the man in front of them was probably a Sixth Stage as well so he didn't think too deeply about it. Even Xelfia was confused as to why he would know that or ask that as she laid still. Seeing Xilo's look he spoke up.

"So?"

"She isn't weaker than normal. You're obviously just as strong, it's got nothing to do with whatever you're talking about."

With a cold voice that was finally beginning to have some frost to it XIlo's anger was rising the more he was talking to the man but there nothing he could do because he wanted to heal more and this was the perfect opportunity for that. "Every bit counts." Growing colder, his conviction to kill him was slowly growing with each sentence as his anger increased more and more, staring at him.

"Yikes, Scary. But since you don't seem to get it still I'll ask one more question. Isn't it weird that your friend over there was asleep for so long? Surely you thought it wasn't normal."

Hearing that Xilo wondered how he could have known so much but after thinking about it for a second a thought slowly circled in his mind that he dreaded to solidify but it was the only thing that made sense. With all answers to each of his questions only pointing to one thing. Seeing Xilo's realization his grin grew even deeper as Tearia Gripped her pants tighter and tighter with each passing moment but not with worry or anger, instead it was impatience.

"Get it Now?"

"B..etrayal?"

"Smart kid."

Xilo slowly felt the energy and tension leave his body as his thoughts were confirmed.

"But who do you think did it?"

Waving his knife around he slowly pointed it at Tearia as he aimed to kill her this time around.

"You don't have to think about it too hard this time. I'll acknowledge your past achievement in answering me and give it to you for free. Isn't that lovely? HAHA."

"..."

"It's the girl behind you who you claim to be friends with. Not so buddy buddy now right?"

With that he let the knife Fly once again directly at Tearia and waited for that glorious moment to come.