147 I'm Back 4

'So this is what he meant.'

Aria withdrew her gaze.

'... Am I this infatuated with her? So much that I would miss something this obvious…? Why? She rejected me anyway...' Her heart and mind slowed, bringing a downcast calmness. With narrowed eyes, her gaze became vacant. 'Young master said that she has her reasons, but… maybe she never even liked me. But how am I supposed to differentiate? Expecting her to reciprocate feelings I formed based on something as loose and flimsy as a joke... Maybe that is what this was to her these past years... A joke…? Or is she disgusted by us, as two women, being together...? What am I supposed to say when I see her again? Can I even be happy when I do? Can I tuck away my so-called feelings and smile happily…? ha, I ignored her for this long, and yet, now, I'm hoping for some satisfying reunion... Have I always been this selfish? Is this why… No, that bastard is the one person I will never forgive, no matter his reason…'

'... Didn't I promise myself that I wouldn't do this again? That I wouldn't set myself up? So why... Why did I...? Why did we have to...'

"Does she-" Before she could finish raving, a forceful strike landed on her cheek. Every joint in her neck popped as this force pushed her head to the side. Her world spun. Landing hard on her side, the surge of pain returned her senses to her.

"... That should wake you up." Levi's murmur entered her ears.

"Witnessing your acquaintance's peril, not only do you show no sign of concern, you don't even care to help her? Perhaps the person you spoke of left of their own will after witnessing the apathy with which you regard their life?" The man goaded. The older man's display of strength gave the younger palace guards goosebumps. It filled them with confidence. Subconsciously, they knitted their brows and puffed their chests. With ragged breaths, they clenched their fists.

Levi's gaze coincidently swept over the man as he turned to Aria, calling out to her.

"Y-Cough-Yes?" Aria cleared her throat while climbing up from the ground. The earlier strike's force extinguished the flames covering her face and head. Something tickled the skin above her upper lip. Rubbing it, she smeared the liquid across her face. 'Blood?', she thought, looking down at her stained fingers.

"You won't have any more problems here, right?"

"Gulp-No..." A taste of iron entered her mouth as she swallowed. Levi swept his free hand out in her direction, after which, the discomfort in her neck eased and the blood on her face seeped back into her body.

"Good." Levi took a glance at the man before turning away to face the Qi shield.

Holding its side, Aria cracked her neck. Her flames crawled back up and covered her face.

"... Although I'm not accustomed to my strength, my level is still higher than yours." Aria lowered her center of gravity.

"… Is that so?" Sighing, the man's figure blurred.

"!!" Although trying her best to follow with her eyes, the figure consistently stayed one step out of her field of vision. Before she knew it, a paralyzing fist to her ribs sent Aria stumbling. With bulging eyes, she crouched, coughed aggressively.

"Level is important, yes. But skill is also detrimental." The man looked down at Aria. She noticed that his posture didn't change. He still stood with one arm behind his seemingly unbendable back.

The sea of guards watched in awe, whispering, and murmuring among themselves.

"... Is she really at a higher level?" One fidgeted.

"Why are you so nervous? Don't you see Mr. Wolfgang is cooing her like a child? So what if her level is higher!" Another one put his hands behind his head.

"Maybe I am overreacting, but you're relaxing too much. I mean, what if he loses? Although Senior Wolfgang is number one in terms of technique, levels are also very important. I mean, if you get hit by Qi strong enough to shatter a mountain, technique alone won't be able to save you."

"Peh! None of us, not even together, have beaten Mr. Wolfgang in training! Ever! And this is a serious fight, meaning he won't need to hold back. Do you believe he will lose?! But whatever, who gives a rat's ass what you believe. You've never been good at hand to hand combat, anyway!"

"..." The guard clenched his fists. He muttered, "So what if I'm bad at it? The reality is, hand to hand combat alone can't topple mountains or part seas."

...

"Ugh! Oof!"

"… Heartbreaking. Your ally has turned a blind eye to your suffering. To the extent of allowing it, really." Wind rippled out from his body as the man stopped.

"Huff! Huff!!" Aria breathed unevenly.

"It's saddening to watch you suffer for a person who would leave you to die at any moment." With creased brows, the man spread his arms. "With such achievements at your age, it would be unfortunate if you stay with this person who will use and throw you away. Seeing this man's true colors, even I am shocked, nevermind you. If you wish to clear your name, step aside. I'm sure everyone will understand your situation. If you've nowhere to go back to, you can stay with us. We, at the very least, take care of our own."

"Huff... Huff... You know nothing…"

"... Is that your answer?" The man sighed. "A shame. Forgive me."

With both hands neatly at his side, Qi slithered up and off of his shoulders. It spilled from his fingertips and crawled up his arms.

Seeing this, a guard remembered something.

"Hey, hehe, do you know Mr. Wolfgang's nickname?" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Huh? Why so excited? What is it?"

"It's, heh heh… ", the guard chuckled. "They called him, 'Silver-fang Wolfgang'!"

"Oh... I'm guessing that name has something to do with... that?"

Silverish gray Qi enclosed the man's arms. With his thumbs folded under and pressed up against his palms, the man's arms 'transformed' into two 'fangs'. Without a word, he vanished.

'He's going to attack from behind. This time I'll-?!' As she turned, Aria caught sight of a silver glare through the corner of her eyes. Her thoughts swirled as she reached one conclusion. 'I'm...'

'Going to die.'

Screech!!!

A tooth aching screech sounded along with an explosion of force. Everyone hurriedly covered their ears, including Wolfgang. Aria used this chance. With her hands over her ears, she retreated a few hops. No one noticed the faint blue peeking out from under her hands.

"Wait..." A soft voice sounded.

"You!! Hurry and get him!!!" Removing blood-stained hands from his ears, Wolfgang pointed at Levi, roaring furiously.

Levi had buried 'Silk Black' deep in the glass-like Qi shield. A giant crack sat on its surface, rapidly healing. Hearing the howl, Levi turned his head. The lines on the black blade dimmed. "Hm?"

"Agh! My arm! Put it out!" Following the blood-curdling screams, the guards froze. Aria had arrived beside Levi. With a wave of her hand, flames bloomed and scorched those in its path.

"Dammit! If my arm is useless after this, I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!" Tearing up on the ground, a guard cursed.

"Huff! Huff!" Aria looked at Levi, at the partly restored Qi shield, then back at him. "Huff... Are you ok?"

"... I should ask you that." Levi cast her an apathetic glance.

"Huff... I'm fine... Huh?"

The pain and fatigue she felt vanished.

"Did you...?"

"Change of plans." Levi sighed lightly.

"Yes?"

"We'll have to deal with this bunch before that thing."

"Ok." Aria nodded. She looked back. '... Why did I think it would be that simple? Young master isn't all-powerful.'

"Are you only realizing how stupid you are now?! What gave you the confidence to think you could get past this shield?!! Don't think you're getting away from here!!" Clutching his scorched arm, a guard said. He laughed crazily as beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

"..." Levi looked at the guard, but the mask obscured his expression. "Listen, Aria. At the base of this Qi shield is an array. To destroy it is as simple as shattering this outer shell. It's not the only way, but one based on a simple concept."

"As if you could even do that! Stop fucking dreaming!!" The guard's eyes were bloodshot.

"An... Array?" Aria's heart sank.

"I'm assuming they had it for, hmm, a few hundred years, collecting Qi continuously. But you don't have to worry about that." Levi looked at Aria.

"I can get rid of both the shield and array with a bit of effort."

"I understand." Aria nodded. "I'll keep them off of you until-"

"But I don't want to." Levi crossed his arms.

'... He already expressed that we're going to Nerezza no matter what, so I don't think he would joke at a time like this', Aria thought.

"... What do you mean?"

"I mean, I want to take home a gift." Levi chuckled.

"?" Aria tilted her head. "... Oh!"

"But can you do it...?" She leaned in, whispering.

"That depends." Levi crossed his arms.

"On what?"

"On you."

"... Huh?"

"Overriding an inscription is already dangerous enough, but an array? Hah!" Levi chortled.

"… When I'm dealing with the Qi shield, I won't be able to help you."

Aria paused. "... I understand. Don't worry about m-"

"Meaning." Levi rolled his eyes under the mask. "Wrap this up now so we can move on."

"... Ok!" Aria stared at the dragon mask for a time. The dull flames lining her body seemed to gain life as they brightened. She arched her back, readying herself to jump back into the fray.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Levi pinched his nose bridge. "..."

"Yes?" Aria knitted her brows.

"... What, sigh..." Levi pointed at her, up and down. "What is it you want to do with that?"

"This?" Aria pointed at her flame cloaked arm. "... It's supposed to be the best defense and offense."

"How is that working out for you?" Levi quipped. "What is the use of your defense when someone can still hit and injure you?"

"..." Aria kept silent.

"Sigh. Highly compressed QI makes up this QI shield, about the same amount as I store in my meridians." Levi scratched his head, sighing. "Why was I able to crack it?"

"... Because the quality of your Qi is better?"

"You're not wrong, but I'm trying to point out something else. Although this shield is strong, it's not unbreakable. This shield has the same amount of thickness all the way around. So although it has the same amount of Qi as me overall, the surface in front of me doesn't." Levi said.

"Get it?" Levi knocked the shield with his knuckles like you would a door. "All that means is if I concentrate more power than this part of the shield holds, I can overpower it. Meaning, I can do things like this-" As a water droplet seeped from his knuckle, Levi knocked the shield once more.

The wind howled as force blasted from the rapidly growing cracks on the shield's surface, Blowing Aria's hair back.

Boom!

A giant shard slammed into the ground before breaking down and blowing away with the wind.

"-Easily." He finished.

"..." With her eyes glued to Levi, Aria thought, 'He... isn't all-powerful... right?'

'... Phew, showing off isn't easy. Added to the fact that I don't normally use such an amount of Qi, sigh... Well, I'll just use this time to relax.'

Aria wasn't the only person watching Levi in shock. Wolfgang lost his composure a second time as he stared at Levi with widened, bloodshot eyes.

"Get him!! Before he can break the shield!!!" He ordered.

"..." Levi kept silent. Silk Black warped. The blade became rounded, like a rope. It lengthened considerably, and like a rope, it sagged.

"We won't let you endanger our masters!!" A guard roared. Ahead of the others by a bit, he swiftly closed the still considerable distance and even clenched his fists in advance.

Just then, the sharp cracking of a whip sounded, and the man froze.

"You..." He began sweating. He had a feeling that if he moved, something bad would happen.

"See what you can do by concentrating force in one place?" Levi turned to Aria.

"But what did-"

"Ahhhh! Ahh-ugh!!" A man screamed, then threw up.

"Wh-What happened!?"

"I-Ugh! I barely brushed him!! And he just-He just split in half!!! Oughhh! Ughhh!" The man could barely hold himself up from the ground as he retched.

"H-Hey man, get it together! Are you-Obviously he isn't fucking okay, you idiot!" A man cut himself off, slapping his forehead in self-deprecation.

"What are you doing!?! Use your swords, don't you have any common sense?!?!" Wolfgang screamed, on the verge of puking blood.

'!!!'

His scream reminded the men about something important.

"W-We were so caught up in Mr. Wolfgang's display that we rushed in for hand to hand combat...!"

The guards looked at each other. They uniformly drew their blades, shuffling around to give each other space.

"... So what do you think, Aria?" Levi glanced at her. Her gaze still hadn't left the puking man, or what lay beside him.

Levi snapped his fingers. "Focus."

"Y-Yes?"

"What are you going to do? They aren't playing around anymore, they want to kill us. How are you going to deal with this?" Levi crossed his arms.

"... I can't die right now." Aria's brows tightened. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A few calming breaths later, she opened and closed her hand.

Flames spewed from her palm, causing the guards to shuffle back.

"Not like that..." she whispered.

Once again, she closed and opened her hand, but only a tiny flame formed.

"Hehehe, if this isn't terrifying talent." The mask hid Levi's dark grin.

"Although it's fire, it's also Qi. It's Qi before fire, but is still fire..." Aria muttered.

"W-What is she doing?" A guard muttered.

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out!" A man charged. Before he could close any distance, the wind rippled and his head disappeared.

"-oud step… Do not. Disturb her." Following a dripping sound, all gazes landed on what was in Levi's hand.

"His-His head...!"

"But he didn't even move!"

The men spoke with shaking voices and pointed with trembling fingers.

"How would the likes of you know if I moved?"

In response to Levi's question, the man instantly closed his mouth.

…

"... If it is both Qi and fire, then I can weave it as Qi. But with the strength of fire: Heat." While muttering this, a glowing object began growing above Aria's open palm. She grabbed onto it and lowered her arm.

"Hmm, It's too thin to be the handle of a sword," Levi mumbled. "Then..."

"..." Strands of Qi grew from the flame-colored cylinder and began weaving. The chord-like object drooped as its length increased. Slithering, it continued growing on the ground.

...

Following the object's formation, Aria opened her eyes.

Those who saw it all had the same thought.

"What a beautiful whip."