18 My Hand Slipped

A figure dashed through the trees, panting and sweating. Her hair was in disorder and her fingerless hands began to release blood once more. Cher, who had just escaped from Arnin, was in deep fear while she ran. She used the chance that Arnin was distracted to escape, but she knew that if she was ever caught, then her ending would not be a good one.

"ROOOAAARRR!"

Cher's body shook when she heard the roar of the beast. In her ears, the roar was like the battle drums of a Demon. She almost tripped while running when she heard the roar, however she had to console her heart. Since she had already escaped, there was no way that she would be let off so easily. Her speed increased once more, blowing the fallen leaves in a chaotic pattern.

Tears couldn't help but slide down her face while she ran. All she could think about was how Jelen was killed and how she was going to be next.

"Why did Jelen have to die? Why did that Demon have to appear?" These questions appeared in her mind while she ran for her life. Luckily, her speed wasn't too bad or the tiger beast would have caught up by now. Cher panted as she ran, her red eyes became blurry, which slowly began to block her view.

The direction she headed towards was the town where she was supposed to take Arnin. Since Arnin wanted the route that had little to no people, to get to a place where lots of people hunted, she needed to head to the town from a different direction. Although she knew that she might run into some beasts, it was the only way.

Further behind her, Arnin stood by the river and smiled. He wasn't worried that Cher would escape since her level was far beneath that of the tiger beasts. The tiger beast was able to completely control one danger area, so it had many tricks of its own. Arnin only observed the scenery. He was very close to the academy and was actually getting there ahead of time, both because of the tiger beasts speed and because of the directions he got from Cher. He had to admit that Cher knew her way around the danger areas quite well, however escaping was her one mistake. He would have eventually ended her life, but she would have been able to live for a longer time if she hadn't run.

"What a shame. If she followed my instructions, she wouldn't have to die so early on. Huh." Arnin could only sigh, however it wasn't one of sadness, rather it was one of pity for Cher's stupidity. Arnin continued to sit down watch the river until he heard some sounds of laughter.

"Hahaha, what a good hunt! I can't believe we were able to kill a rank one beast without an Essence Manifest cultivator." A loud, manly voice was heard from behind Arnin. It was a youthful voice that was filled with vigor and excitement.

"What do you mean 'we'? You just stood there and watched us fight the beast. You were so pitiful! Haha! You are lucky that it was the lowest of the rank ones; Rank One Earth beast. If it was a Rank One Sky beast, then none of us would have escaped." Another loud voice, which seemed to be of someone who was older was heard behind the bushes. Both were male and even the older voice had some excitement. Arnin didn't plan to hide away from the group that slowly approached him. There was no reason to hide. Arnin picked from their conversation that in their group an Essence Manifest cultivator was not present.

The group walked out from behind the trees with smiles. There were about seven people.. There were four males and three females. Other than two people who looked to be around the same age as Arnin, the rest were close to Cher's age, if not younger. The two males that Arnin heard walked in front of the rest. The one with the younger voice had a set of long short, spiky black hair. His sharp nose and golden eyes made him look like a cunning yet fiery person. It was a contrasted look, but weirdly it worked. The man beside him, who had the older voice, had a similar appearance. There were the similar golden eyes and sharp nose, however, his hair was red. If Arnin didn't see the different colour of hair, then he would have thought that these guys were brothers. Their faces had similarities, and they seemed to have personalities that mirrored each other.

Behind the two boys were the quieter members. The other person who looked to be around the same age as Arnin, gave off a completely different air. His azure eyes,matched with his golden-yellow hair, gave him a cold and calm aura. He didn't have the same cunningness as the other child; the boy looked to be the cautious type. His eyes never looked at the same place twice; they roamed around.

The last male of the group looked to be the oldest of them all. Although he looked to be at most Cher's age, his eyes carried a hint of experience. There was no happiness or anger on his face; it was neutral. His ocean blue eyes matched well with the ink-like hair. Stubbles grew onto his straight jaw and pointy chin. This man, like the cold young boy, looked around cautiously, his eyes trying not to glance at something for too long.

The three girls looked to be different ages. The oldest of them, had glossy bronze hair that was tied into a ponytail. Her emerald eyes gave a her a holy look. This contrasted with the other two girls evil presence. The other two girls looked extremely similar in looks. Both of them had lush, sandy hair that were done into pigtails. Their sapphire eyes looked menacing and unwelcoming. Although they had a smile on their faces as well, those distant eyes could not be hidden. The girls were somewhat different, but all three of them were breathtaking. Arnin wasn't too interested, but he also had to admit that their beauty matched that of Nekaia and Lilise.

When the group walked out the bush, they noticed Arnin right away. Before they approached him, they all looked around to make sure that nothing was out of the ordinary. Arnin watched their actions with a smirk, however he didn't say anything that would cause conflict between them. After fighting Orsesa, he believed that Orb Birth - Heaven cultivators were not difficult to deal with, he didn't want to cause conflict right away.

The spiky, black haired youth was the first to walk up towards Arnin. "Hey, what are you doing here alone? You do know that this forest is the hunting grounds for the Lepidoptera Academy, right?" The spiky haired youth began to question Arnin from a distance. Although his manner of speaking was aggressive, it was still said in a way that didn't make him seem arrogant. Also, the way he kept his distance from Arnin allowed him to retreat quickly if a conflict did arised.

"I don't think I need to answer your question, right? You say this is your hunting ground? Well, where is your name then?" Arnin answered back with his own questions. The spiky haired youth frowned towards Arnin's questions. He was about to burst into a fit, but he calmed himself down. He smiled towards Arnin once more before allowing the oldest man to walk forward.

"Kid, we are only asking you these questions because this forest belongs to and is protected by our academy. Let me ask you this question once again, who are you?" The eldest of the bunch began to intimidate Arnin. His tone carried a small amount of ill-intent that Arnin was able to pick up. Arnin wasn't frightened by the group in any way, but he wasn't bored enough to cause conflicts wherever he went.

"If you want me to answer your question, then tell me your name first. I don't need or want to tell some guy my name without even knowing his. So if you won't introduce yourself, then forget about knowing who I am." Arnin answered back with a smile. There was no threat in his tone; it was said very casually. The older man didn't flinch before Arnin and only looked at him for a couple seconds before replying.

"My name is Dane. You don't need to know my family name. So now, what is yours?" The oldest person in the group, Dane, only gave his first name before asking for Arnin's.

"Well then, you gave me your name so why shouldn't I give you mine? Honestly, if you didn't give me your name, I still would have told you mine. It's not like I am someone famous. What's there to hide? My name is Arnin. Same as you, I don't need to tell you my family name." Arnin spoke to Dane as if he was talking to a person of the same age. There was no politeness, but he wasn't rude either.

Dane's facial expression didn't change because of Arnin's trick. He turned to look at his group before nodding towards them. They began to slowly spread around, not closing in on Arnin, but still putting pressure on him. Arnin found the scene to be funny but annoying.

"Why are you guys becoming so aggressive? I was minding my own business, not causing anyone trouble, but you guys come and question me, and when I answer your question, you want to attack me? Talk about bullying the weak with numbers." Arnin snorted while he spoke. He found the actions of the group to be extremely irritating. He was about to release his aura and attack them when he suddenly heard the roar of his tiger beast.

"ROOAAR!" Arnin smiled before rushing passed the group. Dane reached out his hand and tried to grab Arnin before he ran, however he misjudged Arnins speed. He couldn't help but twitch slightly when he couldn't grab Arnin. He turned around and chased Arnin after his initial miss.

"Come with me, we are going to follow him. He is fast, but he shouldn't be too strong. When he ran, I felt that his strength was only at Orb Birth - Sky realm. We should be able to handle him." Although Dane said that, he was still extremely cautious. Arnin's speed seemed to be around the same as his, if not faster, which meant that Arnin was not weak. "Follow him!"

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From where the beast roared, the scene was extremely pitiful. Cher was finally caught by the tiger beast. She was under his massive paws, choking. The astonishing weight of the tiger beast was fully pressed on top of her, making it difficult to breath. What was even more tragic was the fact that both of her arms were gone. Blood was gushing out of where her arms used to be. Without the numbing effect, the pain was causing Cher to tremble crazily. Her eyes couldn't stop producing tears. It was torture for her.

The tiger beast only got hungrier at the sight of the blood. It knew that killing Cher would be going against Arnin and it was trying its best to hold back, but as time passed, that became extremely difficult. It only hoped that Arnin could hurry up. Although it was supposed to go back to Arnin with Cher, the beast didn't think that it would make it back with Cher alive.

"Please let me go. Please, I just want to live. Please!" Cher tried her best to speak with the beast. She didn't know if it could understand what she was saying, but she didn't know if there was anything else that she could do. She was at the mercy of the beast, and with it's howl, Arnin would be coming soon. Suddenly, a thought sprung up inside of her. The howl should have been heard by more than just Arnin. Her mind slightly calmed and hope arose inside her when she thought about it. There should have been others that would have heard the howl as well. She might be saved by those people.

Traveling at lightning speed, Arnin rushed towards the roar. He pushed himself to the limit because he also felt that others might have heard the roar of the beast. He was feeling irritated that the tiger beast didn't bring back Cher when he told it to.

"That stupid beast! Just wait till I get my hands on it. It won't be getting its meal for today." Arnin rushed past the trees at a speed that was far beyond an Orb Birth - Sky cultivator. The group that was trying to follow him couldn't keep up with him. They were falling behind, especially the two that were around the same age as Arnin. They were at low realms so they weren't able to keep up in anyway.

"D*mn, we are losing him. I am going to go ahead. All of you just meet me back at the academy. Brajus, you follow me." Dane told the red haired man to follow him. The group split up and headed in different directions. Dane increased his speed and bursted forward with Brajus in tow.

Arnin was still far up ahead, but he felt that the pursuers were getting closer. He smiled slightly before also bursting forward at a greater speed. Although he had reached his max speed, he was able to force a greater speed if he concentrated on the octagon pattern in his legs.

A few minutes passed before Arnin finally reached the place his tiger beast was. Since his pursuers were getting closer, he needed to hurry and dispose of Cher.

"Miss Cher, I told you that if you ran, I would make you miserable. Well since you both disobeyed the contract and went against me, I need to make sure that your ending isn't too great. Luckily the contract will take care of your soul after death." Arnin noticed the refreshing blood smell when he got there. He noticed Cher's missing arms as well. Arnin knew that he had to get away from the scene as quickly as possible. He tried to scan and see how many people were following him and when he found that only two were behind him, he couldn't help but frown. If all seven were to come, he would be able to get rid of them cleanly and then escape, but with only two here he couldn't do that anymore. If he got rid of the two, then the other five would know that it was him. Arnin walked towards Cher quickly before grabbing her throat and lifting her into the air.

"You won't get away with this! The people from my academy will find out what you did and they won't let you go!" Cher, who already saw death, couldn't help but curse Arnin with a mocking laugh.

"That's fine, it's not like the academy is my final destination. It is just a stepping stone in my pursuit to power. If they get in my way, then I won't mind destroying them thoroughly." Arnin smiled towards Cher wickedly.

"You Dev-" Arnin used both his hands and tore Cher's head from her body. Blood sprayed all over him. Cher's body, which trembled in midair, collapsed to the ground without making another movement.

"Oops! My hand slipped!"