Man, yesterday went smoothly, even if I felt a weird chill down my spine. Like someone walking over my grave.

Considering the sounds of battle stopped yesterday, I'm pretty sure what that feeling was. I will ignore it for my sanity.

It was Friday night and I had finally managed to make it to the edge of Mayer Forest (slightly better name). I was actually a little bit further than the edge since every Elder ape had volunteered themselves to fight four people who could probably bench and squat small cars. Meaning I could travel as fast as I could without compromising my stealth. On the other hand, that also meant those four people fought almost every ape in the forest and probably won...

Considering I can bench like, nine hundred and something pounds, they definitely could lift way more than me. And unlike me, they weren't hindered by my lack of muscle control. I've gotten a lot better than my first day, but there were still times where it felt like I was expecting to lift a full cup of water, only to find it was empty. Then my arm would fling into the heavens like a spaz as a result. That's the best example I could find for the strange phenomenon I was dealing with. Those four had no such issue, so I tried not to think of them smearing my brains against the trees with that kind of strength. But, that raised a good question.

I wonder the limit of strength in this world was? You would think benching more than any human back on Earth would make me feel badass. Then I think 'what could Mayer possibly do?' Mayer looked like he could fight the Hulk and squat a battleship so... Mayer could possibly do a lot. It made me realize I'm not even scratching the surface of what this world was capable of.

I guess it's all relative, no matter where you end up.

I got ready to make camp for the night, but I thought back to what I did to slow down the four hunting me. I had laid four more traps, three of them trip-rope traps and one a bit fancier. A log trap like the one that fucked me up in Bloodborne a zillion fucking times from carelessness. It was a log, actually more of a thick stick, but a log trap nonetheless! But, I knew it wouldn't hurt any of them. Even if the trap had tree trunk, they were too tough and skilled to be phased.

If only my new traps weren't soaked in oil. The moment they were triggered my traps would set the forest around them ablaze. The friction of the rope moving against the Elder Weiss would start the fire, helped along by a little well-placed oil. The tricky part was not putting so much oil that the rope became slippery, just enough to act as an accelerant.

I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter. Hehe.

The fact I saw multiple pillars of smoke in the direction of my traps meant someone tripped them. It had to be those four, considering I left an obvious trail for them to follow and all. Well, obvious if it was the old me, but I was far more careful now. Panza made sure of that by the mental wargames we played in the pitch-black darkness of his cave.

I'd meditate and he'd ask me a scenario wherein I was forced to imagine it and come up with a solution to it. Over and over and over...

But as silly as I thought it was (and it still sounds, honestly), it worked. I had only ever meditated to help me with anxiety, but meditating on something other than 'breath' was a whole new experience entirely. It was almost as if I was there. Time became meaningless as I saw in my mind's eye how I thought I would do something, and Panza explaining in excruciating detail how it was wrong. Then in the same excruciating detail what correct move was.

Afterward, I would meditate on the four principles he taught me: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu.

Basically, it was like this: focus your mind and examine your goal. Define your goal into words. Intensify your resolve and evaluate how to make your goal real. Then you act. The four principles helped me tremendously. Even if it sounded like hokey, self-help babble.

That's why the excruciating detail part was important and so horrifying. Ever have to envision how to immolate an ape with a trap? To imagine and visualize it down to the fur being burned off and its fat being melted off? Yeah, it's as mentally taxing and as visually horrible as it sounds.

Eh... I really hope my four trainers don't get too hurt by my traps...

I sighed. Whatever. I need to get to sleep, but before that, I needed to check my supplies.

I poured out my bag on the snow in front of me and saw what I had:

Ceramic bottle of poultice: I was to rub it on myself every six hours. It was used to dull the pain I felt all over my body. Like IcyHot on steroids, except without the weird smell that could reveal my presence. It was still a chore to move, but at least I wasn't clenching my jaw in a muffled scream when I walked every few steps.

Three bottles of oil: I had to figure out whether or not to use them for traps or save them for Molotov cocktails. I had a vague idea of how to make one thanks to movies and games. But thanks to Panza I could actually make them now. That guy was one crazy bastard.

About forty feet of rope: That's all had now. I had a lot more before, most of it was wrapped around my waist before I used it for all my traps. It was white and made from the fur of the Belban apes. Panza hated these things so much he made their fur into rope to kill more of them. Also, because the material was hard to see in the snow.

Two days worth of food: I was ahead of schedule by a lot, I hadn't expected to get here as fast as I did. An empty forest helped, hehe. Yet, even when moving carefully, I averaged around three to five miles per hour (4.8 to 8 kmh). So it wasn't like I was going at a snail's pace either. I only had a day left, so this food would be more than enough.

The fire starter that Panza gave me: It was one of the few things Panza had from civilization and didn't use a dead ape as material. It looked like a car key. A fat orange handle with a tiny pole as long as my pinkie sticking out of it. When I pressed down on the pole, it'd go back into the handle causing steel and flint to rub and create sparks. The spring would then push the pole out, causing more sparks. Extremely useful, especially when I was only one-handed at the moment.

Lastly, I had seven knives made from ape bone on my body: They were strapped to me on different parts of my body, just like Panza showed me to do. Two on each wrist(one of them hidden in my sling), two on each ankle, one a little above my shoulder blades, and two around my waist.

Each knife had a small hole at the base of the handle. That was so I could loop a piece of rope around it to be used in various ways. Potentially even as a grappling hook. I didn't actually get to practice that, but a man can believe, can't he?

What I did practice was how to use the rope and knife together as a weapon. I already knew how to throw a knife. Kalvin had, for lack of a better term, beat it into me. But, throwing it with a rope was different, as well as manipulating it with the attached rope. I wasn't a master at it, not by any stretch, but I could wrap the rope around things pretty well. That's how I set most of my traps.

I packed up my supplies and huddled underneath a small tree I found. It had fallen over from old age and was up against a rock. So in essence, functioned as a small cave and as my hiding place. My furs did an amazing job of keeping my warm and providing me camouflage by looking like snow; so I had little worry for either. That was good because I couldn't set a fire to keep myself warm: an easy way to get myself caught. And while I was so wrapped up in hairy ape fur that I was nice and toasty, I couldn't see anything because I was wrapped so completely. So these furs were a godsend, or a Panza send.

As I tried to drift off to sleep, I heard something that made my body pump adrenaline.

The landing of multiple feet on to snow. They were moving around.

I knew it was them. Human footsteps were distinct compared to animals. It was usually like a trot followed by rubbing itself against something in the case of something like a pig, or a smooth, barely audible gliding of a big cat. Regardless of any animal, there was a distinct 'one, two, three, four' kind of sound for four-legged animals, compared to a human's stuttered 'one-two, one-two.'

I breathed softly, controlling my exhalation and using my fur to absorb the moisture I let out with each breath. It'd be something if I got caught because of wintery air. Something stupid that would be.

"The trail ends here," whispered either Kalvin or Clyde from the darkness. They were behind me, on the other side of the boulder that served as my shelter. A few feet away

"If it has, brother, then he must be around!" the other twin said loudly, barely a whisper.

I heard footsteps as one of the twins started moving, only for someone else to stop him.

"Stop it you, idiot. I'm this close to sending you back to Mayer! You've set off every trap he's placed. Without fail! How'd you even pass the Hunter Exam?!" That was definitely Briannaisa.

"With pizazz!" the twin that she was arguing with said, facetiously and heatedly.

"I'm surprised you even know that word you Doits idiot!" Briannaisa almost yelled, with venom.

"I do not know why we follow you! Simply because you are older does not make you an adequate leader!" the twin roared.

"I'm the one with military experience. I've actually led squads. You're just a rookie Hunter who is full of himself!" she spat back with fury.

"The NGL is nothing like this forest, you pompous cannon fodder of a soldier! You are nothin-" the twin screamed, almost as loud as possible, before being cut off.

Oooh boy. This was good. If I could steeple my fingers like Mr. Burns I would.

"Enough you two!" whispered the other twin, forcefully, "Briannaisa, we need Kalvin, or James will waltz through the gates without issue. We cannot scour this forest with only two people. We must stick to the plan."

Plan~?

Me like plan! Me want hear plan!

A shuffling sound and Clyde continued, "And you, brother, have done your best to sabotage us through sheer incompetence. I do not know if you are doing this on purpose or if truly you are emotionally compromised, but Briannaisa is right. She has all the right to send you back to father and she is or leader. To say nothing of the rules father has placed that you have broken."

Jeez. These boys were smarter than I thought. My first impression of them was was of brutes. Come to find Kalvin is the only brute between the two.

I could hear Kalvin shuffling around as I imagined him turning to face his brother, "I had not used Ken I would be roasted alive!"

"The fire was merely a distraction, though I will admit quite dangerous," Clyde paused for a moment before continuing, "You still used Ko to chop your way through a piece of rope. Three-time."

"Fine! I cannot control myself sometimes! Is that what you want me to say?! Besides, it is not as if father is here to judge us. We could use our Nen and be done with it!" Kalvin whispered roughly to his brother, my ears barely straining to hear.

"Both of you stop talking about that. In fact, stop talking completely! We don't know if he's around..." Briannaisa hissed out.

Oh.

OH!

So the magic system on this Earth is called Nen? That's awesome and all, but I can't learn how to use it in less than a day. Tell me you're fucking plan!

But fate denied me. In fact, the three of them became dead quiet.

Wait. Three?

Where was Claudette? Why wasn't she with them? Was she injured or, I hope to god not, killed?

I don't think she would be killed, even if she was as soft-hearted as a lamb. She was a Hunter after all, and she was with three other Hunters.

Why aren't they together though? I had to think it over, but right now I had to stay quiet.

The three of them stopped making noises whatsoever. Even there breathing disappeared. It was like they became ghosts. The way they acted before made me forget they were pro Hunters. It was jarring reconciling the people I knew and seeing (or in case, experiencing) what they actually were. I knew they were incredibly powerful, but it's like finding out as a kid you're a teacher doesn't live at school or seeing how your dad acts at work for the first time.

How am I comparing people younger to me to authority figures? Whatever...

But hearing them and experiencing them disappear into the wind was eye-opening. Now I knew why they were Hunters. They could become serious in a heartbeat, turning on their game face whenever they needed to. As said before, I couldn't even sense their presence, i.e. no breath or errant movement of their body. They had complete control of themselves and their environment, minimizing all sound and evidence of their whereabouts.

I was doing the same, but it was a lot easier for me since I was literally laying down like a sleeping dog. I didn't have to move, pay attention to my surroundings, or even control my breathing as extensively as they were doing right now. I was in a hole covered in a blanket that looked like snow; how much easier could hiding be for me? Especially compared to what they were doing: hiding in almost in plain sight.

All in all, I was incredibly impressed and somewhat frightened.

I felt like a kid who heard a sound at night and was hiding under his blankets, hoping the monsters didn't find me. Now I knew why most children had that innate reflex to not move under the covers when they were scared at night.

I just wish it was in the classroom that I learned that tidbit, not in the fucking forest in the middle of the night. God damn it.

Needless to say, I barely slept. Not that I needed a lot of it nowadays. I've gotten conditioned to need as little of it as possible. The psychological effect of not sleeping was more of an issue than actual fatigue.

Whatever, just more time for me to make a plan.

And I had a few. I'd need them

Because tomorrow would be the face-off.


Briannaisa and Clyde had combed the woods all night long in a vain attempt to find the find James. They knew it was futile to search at night, but they couldn't afford to let James slip away. Especially when he was only sixteen kilometers (ten miles) away.

Briannaisa had seen first hand how fast James could sprint with weights on his body. He wasn't quite as fast as even a novice hunter, but with his weights off he should be close to it she thought. She could outpace a speeding car in short bursts, so if he could run even a third of that...

She concluded the time: twenty minutes. If he could keep up a pace of fifty kilometers (31 miles) an hour he would make it in less than twenty. She had seen him reach close to that, and she was certain she was low balling the number, but a person can't sprint as fast with only one arm.

She had told Clyde as much and he agreed it was very possible. Though the teen suspected that James would not rush, given that the two of them could catch up to him in mere minutes. Even without Nen. James did not need to do anything rash when the three Hunters were the ones worn-out.

They were sleep-deprived, hungry, and tired from yesterday's battle. Fighting a pitched battle and then searching all day and night had taken its toll. Even Kalvin, who had the easier job of patrolling his own home, was exhausted. Two days of travel or fighting and not a minute of rest. It felt as if the trio of them were being tested, not James.

Clyde slapped his head once more to drive away his exhaustion. There were so many nagging questions that bothered the group. How did James switch clothes? How did he supply himself? How did he...

A million questions and more. It had something to do with the tunnel. They had asked Kalvin but he just shrugged. They didn't have time to go back and check as the area had turned into a battlefield. They did not find anymore hatches to verify their suspicions, making the mystery all the more infuriating.

It was as his father said: the battle between Hunters begins in the mind and ends in the mind.

Clyde laughed. He was already thinking of James as a Hunter. What foolishness. Yet, he would not deny how proud the teen felt for his student. Even if that pride was overwhelmed by several tons of spite and petty revenge.

"I will find James and I will drag him back by his ankles for making me work this hard..." the teen said as he continued to search through the forest by himself.

His prayers were answered when he spotted something suspicious. A furry, white ball of snow up against a tree. It looked exactly like the ape's fur, and it was poorly hidden.

The teen hid in a tree, using the higher position to scan the area for James and to gain an advantage if he had to ambush the older man. The fur was only ten meters away. It was tantalizingly close. It could be the clue to finding James. The last piece that would stop this exhausting exercise of hiding and seek...

But Clyde smiled. He knew it was a trap, and he was not his brother. He analyzed the situation, and all the signs pointed to James being around. He could tell by the rushed tracks in the snow, the disturbed branches, and some tree marks that the man had just heard Clyde coming and hid. Though, James did a good enough job of hiding his presence that the teen couldn't tell where he was. Clyde would give him that much.

Clyde waited, thinking over his choices. He would not rush blindly into one of James' tricks. The twin had time on his side, and James did not.

The teen rubbed his tired eyes and sighed. If he had to measure his energy, he would say he was at forty percent. While he could subdue James with that much strength, the older man had unknown supplies and the element of surprise. As well as new tactics, a completely different mindset, and desperation on his side. Clyde saw the choices in front of him, and the teen saw only two where Domo was at a clear advantage.

Ignore the trap and continue to search for James or stay in the tree for the man to move from his position. He could not alert Briannaisa or else James would slip away. The man had proved himself adept at being elusive, giving James any more information about their whereabouts only made it easier to escape past the two Hunters.

Option one allowed Clyde to find James' position but gave the initiative to his opponent. Clyde would lose the element of surprise, as well as when and where to fight. Even if James somehow became good enough to pose a threat, the man was still injured and Clyde only tired. It would force James into a situation that he could not afford: being forced into the open. Still, there were too many unknown variables regarding James for the teen to commit to this plan.

On the other hand, option two allowed Clyde to be the proactive one. James was nearby, and he was only good enough to keep his presence hidden by not moving. The moment he moved, it would be over. And he had to move, it was around nine in the morning and the test ended at midnight. He couldn't wait forever. Lastly, it also gave Clyde time to rest. Altogether, this puts more pressure on the would-be Hunter as well as minimized any risk to the Domo twin.

The teen shook his head, option two seemed the best. So he waited.

Ten minutes turned to thirty, then an hour. After the second hour of waiting, Clyde started to doubt whether James was even here...

No! He had to be here! The tracks were fresh, the trap was fresh, everything pointed to James being here.

Also...something else pointed to James still being in the area.

It was the smell of blood that began linger in the air. It had started twenty minutes ago and had to be James. Clyde's hunch of James being cut was right. All this traveling would no doubt have reopened his wounds. He had to have used some coagulants to prevent blood loss. Whatever he was using to stop the bleeding was beginning to wear off. He would have to move to apply the medicine or he would continue to bleed. Depending on how bad the bleeding was, he could bleed out in five minutes to an hour.

Clyde smiled, both from a sense of nervousness for his student and perverse victory. James couldn't stay hidden for much longer. Only ten, maybe fifteen minutes before the man would be forced to move. He felt a morbid sense of exhilaration, of corning your prey in a no-win situation.

Or so Clyde thought.

After thirty minutes, Clyde grew worried. If James did not stop the bleeding he would die, there was no doubt in Clyde's mind.

Fifteen more minutes passed as it neared eleven. For one of the few times in his life, Clyde was not smiling. The only thing on his face was dread. James would die if he continued this foolishness.

After five more minutes, Clyde's patience shattered as he jumped down from the tree, "James! Come out! You will die if you continue this madness!" he said to the forest.

Nothing. Not a movement. Not a sound. The forest refused to reply.

Clyde looked around, wide-eyed and frantic as he began to suspect the worst.

"This is no longer funny! Speak James! If you are scared of failing, do not worry! I will not bring you in!" horrifying silence answered back, "Please James!"

Clyde's breath began to tighten up from the stress, a horrifying reality was unfolding before him, "I GIVE UP! ANSWER ME!" he almost yelled in panic.

Again nothing. The silence stretched on...

Only to be answered by the sound of growling. Clyde turned to find a Sabertooth Snow Leopard slowly coming out from behind a tree. The beast had the color of white with black spots, but the upper body of a Lynx and the lower body of a Mountain Lion. With the teeth and size of a large Sabertooth Tiger sprinkled in for God's own amusement.

The beast began to approach the teen, eager to snack on something in the middle of winter. That train of thought stopped when it felt something was wrong.

The teen stared down at the floor, his fisted balled up tightly. The beast hesitated as the human began to radiate such fury and murderous intent that the big cat began to feel like a kitten. It flinched as it backed up slowly, tail tucked in between its legs as its mind regressed from the overflow of killing intent. The big cat had no idea what to do, other than to hope for the mercy of the monster in front of it.

The two of them heard the sound of shifting, falling snow and then footsteps. But the footsteps were purposeful, loud and as obnoxious as possible.

Killing intent and fear was replaced by sheer confusion. Both Clyde and the leopard looked at each in befuddlement, then turning to see where the noise was coming from.

It was James, covered head to toe in white fur. The same fur that was next to the tree that Clyde assumed was a trap. The same tree that the Domo twin was standing next to. The same trick that started all this.

"Whoa, don't hurt that thing. It ain't it's fault you lost," the man said in his strange city accent.

Clyde's emotion moved quickly from confusion to relief, then to joy, back to confusion, then finally settling on sheer rage. All in a second.

"You! I shall beat you black and blue, you mongrel! You are not even hurt! You, you, you!" Clyde couldn't pull any more insults from his sleep-deprived mind.

The teen began to walk towards James with a vicious smile, slowly pulling up the tattered sleeves of his parka to reveal enormous Domo family muscles ready to inflict pain. He was ready to enjoy the beating he was going to inflict on James.

But James raised a hand from underneath the layers and layers for white fur he had on. Even the Hunter candidate's head and face were obscured by the white fluff he wore. Only a bloody hand appeared from the deep recesses of the white hair. Clyde instantly brought his guard up, ready for whatever weapon or device the man had in store.

Instead, he was greeted by a finger. A finger that wagged disapprovingly. Needless to say, Clyde was quite confused.

"Ah, ah, ah! You said you gave up. What kind of honorable Domo goes back on his word?" the ape clothed man said with a facetious cheer.

Clyde could not see James' face, but he could hear the victory in his voice and only needed to extrapolate from that to imagine the man's stupid face. The teen's right eye twitched unconsciously in outrage at what he was confronted with, as his addled-mind cried for sleep. He realized he had been outplayed.

"W-what? How? What? You should be at death's door! You should not be able to do any of this, let alone move! You should have bled out by now!" Clyde cried, his mind fraying at the edge of sleep-induced insanity. His mind refusing to accept the reality of his defeat.

"I wasn't bleeding out, but I knew you'd think that if you smelt blood. I only cut myself on my palm, see," he presented his right hand to display the cut.

"No, no, no, no!" Clyde cried, his hands pressed against his head in horror as his brain started to piece everything together.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" James said as he walked over to the white fur 'trap'.

He pulled the piece of cloth off to reveal a white rope wrapped around the base of the tree. It was being held down by a large rock. Attached to the rope was a glass bottle filled with oil. Clyde's eye looked on in fascination, only to be covered by the fur cloth James had thrown at him.

"You look like shit by the way. I knew you guys would be exhausted, but you looked like a zombie," James said with concern as he pulled off another piece of ape hide off his back and wrapped it around Clyde.

"There, you should be warmer now. You looked like you haven't eaten anything either, here," James said as he patted the malfunctioning Domo on the shoulder.

He pulled a bag from under his clothing and pulled out an even smaller bag filled with food. Using his arm in his sling, he dug for some food and pulled it out. It turned out to be dried meat, which he threw at the confused leopard who was waiting around like a curious, but confused, kitten. It ate the food with gusto.

Clyde's eye kept twitching as a bag of food was shoved into his arms. He stared at it, his mind reviewing how he failed.

"Y-you! JAMES! How dare you?! How did you do this all?" Clyde said as he pointed at the man, as if he could shoot lasers from the tip of his finger from pure spite.

Now James' face was less obscured, Clyde could see the victorious smile he easily imagined before. James began working to cut the bottle from the trap with one hand.

"It wasn't easy. I didn't even get to finish this trap before you found me. I woke up, maybe two hours before all this happened," he said nonchalantly as he cut the bottle free. A small tree branch fell from above them, on the other side of the tree.

"I was trying to figure out how to get the bottle to light on fire. These trees are nothing like the Elder Weiss. That was before I heard you coming. All that running around got to you, you got sloppy," James said in admonishment.

Clyde felt like he was slapped in the face, but James plowed ahead, "If you were as quiet as you were last night, you'd have caught me off guard. Well, anyways, I didn't have much time. I threw the fur over the trap and made a fake trail before backtracking and jumping into that snowbank over there," he pointed to a pile of snow that now had a huge hole in it.

Clyde's eyes had seen it several times, but it was snow. It looked like snow. Clyde's eyes widened as he realized the man stayed motionless for two hours, virtually invisible. The teen looked back at the fur on James and saw it was stuck with piles of snow, as easily as a person could stick cloth onto velcro. It blended effortlessly into the snow, while the fur on the floor had no snow on it and looked like regular, white hair. Another deception.

James smiled at Clyde, almost reading his mind, "Yep, this fur is like a ghillie suit. Snow sticks to it like glue. It's no wonder you couldn't find me, right? You thought I looked like that pile of fur. Hehehe."

Clyde wanted the strangle the man.

"Anyways," James continued, "you actually had me dead to rights. I didn't know what to do, so I decided to gamble," the man pointed at the big cat who was waving its tail like any old house cat as it munched on the meat.

Clyde slowly began to speak as his shoulders slumped forward, defeated, "You waited for me to lose my patience, knowing I knew you were gravely injured. That, or to be distracted by this beast. Had I waited you would have been forced to move due to this creature attacking you, thereby revealing your position," Clyde began to giggle hysterically.

James took a step back in apprehension, "Uhhh, yeah. Dude, are you ok?"

"How could I lose to you!" Clyde said aloud with a defensive point of his finger.

The would-be Hunter put his hands up as though Clyde's finger was the barrel of a gun, "Whoa! No need to get upset. I just used everything against you. You've probably been up for like, three days straight. I knew you knew about my injuries and I knew you guys would be concerned. I just got lucky you jumped out before the cat jumped on me."

James put the bottle back into his bag and stored it underneath his clothes. He turned to Clyde and smiled, "Since you gave up, stay here and don't move, ok? I think the leopard will keep you company," he said as a joke.

Only for the leopard to rumble in response. James raised an eyebrow in response.

"Okie dokie, Mr. Kittie Cat, " the man replied to the leopard as if he was Tarzan.

Clyde looked at James in awe, "You have learned to speak with animals as well?!"

"What? No, are you crazy? I ain't Dr. Dolittle all of a sudden, jeez," James shook his head in amusement at the annoyed face Clyde gave him. Clyde was more confused at his reference to a doctor.

"Alright, I have to get going. Stay here, ok? Eat some food and rest, sleep even," James said kindly, as he patted the tired boy on the head with his good arm.

Clyde nodded numbly, tiredness hitting all at once, "Yes, yes. It has been a rough few days."

Clyde sat down against the tree that had served as a trap, the stress and exhaustion of the past two days hitting the sixteen-year-old like a freight train. The leopard decided to curl up next to the teen for some reason, in a protective way.

"James, the other two are still searching for you. Briannaisa is searching the forest while Kalvin is patrolling the perimeter of our home. You will need to be careful if you are to defeat them."

"Why are you telling me this?" the older man said, though not unkindly.

"I do not want you to fail, James. You have proven yourself to be capable enough. Besides, I will not be the only one to lose in this test, if I have anything to say about it." Clyde said with tired annoyance.

'Crabs in a bucket,' thought James. Crabs in a bucket...

"Though, I believe you can pass this last test; as well as the Hunter Exam. I have faith in you."

James nodded, a smile of pride on his face. As well as something else that Clyde failed to spot in his haze of exhaustion, "Thanks, Clyde. Your support will, uh, help me out a lot," he said as his voice began to waver and crack.

Clyde smiled at James being overcome with emotion as he slowly started to close his eyes. The larger leopard laying across him like a blanket. The teen's face concealed by a hood of white fur.

James turned around, taking out the fire starter. His cheeks were puffed up as he did his best not to start laughing out loud.

'Oh yeah, your support will help me out a lot,' thought the wicked man...

It was past noon and Clyde had not met up with Briannaisa at the designated rendezvous. That meant Clyde had been defeated or at least something else that prevented the teen from meeting up. She sighed in annoyance and exhaustion. She was tired. The lack of sleep and food wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't fought an army of bloodthirsty apes. The brunette couldn't imagine how the other two were feeling.

She liked to believe sleep deprivation wasn't much of an issue for her. She had already experienced this before while helping James run, as well as during her youth as a soldier. But compounded with everything else and this was a nightmare. Expenditure of aura was far more exhausting than normal fatigue. It was your life energy, the source of your continued presence on this mortal plane. If that ran out, that was it, you're gone.

While Briannaisa's pools of water barely used any aura to activate, it was still costly to move around and manipulate, let alone to keep activated. And she hadn't even used as much of her aura as either of the brothers. They lacked the experience necessary to properly ration out their reserves of energy.

So, while she didn't think Clyde would lose in a fight with James, she still wouldn't be surprised if James pulled something out of his ass. On the other hand, Briannaisa was in good enough shape to not feel much more than some brain fog and full-body soreness. She felt confident she could find and capture James by herself if need be.

He had to come to her, right?

The only thing that prevented her from sticking to the backup plan of securing Mayer's home was the smoke rising from the forest. She knew it had to be James.

And she knew it had to be a trap.

Not once had they spotted the infuriating man who kept eluding them. While the four Hunters' specialties were suited to the city, it still shouldn't be so hard to find one person. Especially a rank amateur. How?

She refused to believe he was smarter than he looked. And he looked quite dumb in her opinion. The brunette could imagine his first face living on someone of some intelligence. It had been bookish, soft, and plain. But his second one looked like the face of a thug.

Sharp, narrow eyes with eyebrows that sloped slightly to perpetually shade his eyes, as well as to make him seem like he was glaring all the time. His old lips used to curve up into a small, goofy smile; now he looked like he was always frowning; as though constantly annoyed. High cheekbones, hollow cheeks, and a brutish jaw made complete his resting asshole face.

Before he looked liked the type of person that was shoved into lockers. Now he looked like the type of person that shoved people into lockers.

She understood why he was upset about his change of face. In her opinion, his new face was the kind only a mother could love. While Briannaisa didn't like his old face, at least she found it more pleasant to look at. Like a lost, stupid puppy. Claudette as well, though she seemed to like more effeminate looking men. While James did appear manlier, he was 'an idiot so whatever thought' Briannaisa.

Now to prove he was just as much of an idiot as he now looked. Or that is to say, to show his face now matched his stupidity!

She cracked her knuckles as he decided: 'fuck the plan! I'm going to kick his ass.'

For all her admonishment of Kalvin, she was growing tired of playing hide and go seek.

Besides, she also had the backup, backup plan.

"Time for revenge," she said, smiling.

A flash of hesitation passed by her mind as she remembered the words her mother said to James the first day everyone met him...

"Knowing Lady Zhulong, she just might make me kill you. Know that I will vouch for your survival, but she's..."

Briannaisa frowned as she fought through her reluctance, "Not my fault if he fails this stupid test. Just means he wasn't good enough," she said, lying to herself.

She pushed down the uncomfortable idea. They wouldn't kill James, too much effort was being put into him. It would be stupid...

"Aarggh! No! I won't let this idiot beat me!" she said, steeling herself and her resolve.

She flew off towards the source of the fire, dancing between the branches with effortless grace. It was easier to move between the trees that were normal-sized, but she had to be careful. Not every branch was strong enough to carry a truck like the Elder Weiss were. Still, she made it in a handful of minutes under the cover of the treetops.

It was someone in a pile of white furs. Sleeping alongside a large Sabertooth Snow Leopard. In front of a fire. He even had a bag of supplies right next to him. The hell?

It had to be James. The man had to more exhausted then they were. He's survived here for six days. He must have gotten tired, fell asleep, and let his guard down. He was smart enough that there were several traps around designed to alert a person of intruders. But to her, they were as easy to spot as if they had flashing lights on them. She'd have laughed if she could at how easy it all was.

She didn't know how he became so friendly with a leopard, but animals were drawn to kind-hearted Hunters, or so it's said. 'Guess James was a big softie,' she thought reluctantly.

Briannaisa jumped down from the tree without a sound. She slowly closed the distance on the two, arms in a position to fire a punch when in range.

But when she was in range, she hesitated. Anger flowed and guilt flowed through her. She didn't want to see him fail, she didn't want him to lose and potentially die. She didn't want-

Wait. Something was wrong here. But she couldn't quite place it...

She didn't have the time to continue processing it as the leopard jumped on her in the middle of her thoughts, guard completely down. The Hunter frowned in annoyance at her carelessness.

Briannaisa sighed bitterly as she forced herself to do something she would hate. She grabbed the leopard by the neck and started to choke it as easy as choking a kitten. She didn't like doing this, but it would only be knocked out for a minute; which was far better than beating it senselessly with her bare hands. Briannaisa owned several cats and hated hurting any type of cat, no matter how huge and fluffy and adorable and precious and...

The Hunter felt awful. The cat tried to claw at the woman, to no avail as she used Ken to make her body like iron. It slowly began to lose strength, only a few more seconds...

She didn't get to finish her choking of the leopard as she was tackled to the ground by the person in the fur. The leopard fell to the side, huffing as it sucked in air greedily.

Briannaisa's body moved on instinct as she flipped the man over her, sending him flying into a tree. She jumped on him, ready to finish him off in a moment. Just as her fist was about to make contact with his face, the man moved at the last second. Her fist smashed into the tree, drilling a large hole in the tree and causing branches to fall. The sound echoed through the forest like a car crash.

The man flung back his fur to reveal himself to be Clyde. Briannaisa stared dumbly at the teen.

"Clyde?!" Was all she could say before being tackled again by the giant leopard.

They sailed away from Clyde. Right into one of the alarm traps that James had set up. It was a simple tripwire trap that was held down by a heavy rock. On the other end was a half sawed through branch that came crashing down to earth with a loud crack. The sound was enough to echo throughout the forest, just as James wanted.

Briannaisa cursed as she kicked the leopard off her like an annoying pet, she turned the Clyde with accusations and rage in her eyes.

"Why are you sleeping in the middle of the forest?!" she continued to dodge the leopard that was doing its best to pounce on her, while simultaneously continuing to hold a conversation with Clyde, "tell this thing to stop attacking me!"

Clyde looked at the big cat trying its best to take a swipe at the woman and failing, "It is not my pet! It has taken a liking to me for some reason."

She wanted to punch Clyde in the face, "Just do it or I'll hurt it, and I don't want to!" she whined like a child.

Clyde sighed, "Stop, ugh, Mr. Kittie Cat?" repeating the name that James had called it.

The leopard stopped and looked at Clyde with a tilt of its head, before walking over and rubbing itself at on Clyde. He laughed. Briannaisa sneered.

"Damn it Clyde, let's go! We don't have time for this! Why were you sleeping anyway-" Briannaisa began before being stopped with a raise of Clyde's hand.

"I have forfeited, therefore I can no longer assist you in capturing James," Clyde said as solemnly as he could pretend.

Briannaisa stared at the teen in shock. Her legs were squared apart, shoulders slumped forward and arms dangling weakly. If her mouth was physically capable of hitting the floor, it would have.

The brunette pointed a stiff, disbelieving finger at the Domo. She shook her head before yelling, "Damn it! I can see either of you twins losing to James from bad luck! But forfeit!?"

Clyde nodded, "He did not defeat me in a fight, and while I am not at my best, he still beat in a battle of wits."

Briannaisa closed her eyes in frustration, "Grrrrr... Fine! I'll have to track him down myself! Kalvin should have enough brain cells to follow the plan..."

She put two fingers into her mouth and whistled three times. They were sharp, precise, and cut through the silence of the forest like a knife. The three whistles had no problem reaching Kalvin, who was thirteen or so kilometers (8 miles) away. This was followed by two more sharp whistles.

The brunette gave Clyde one last, disappointed look before shaking her head and walking away. But before she could get too far away, Clyde spoke.

"You should be careful. He is not the same man as before. James has changed greatly. "

"Tch. He can't have gotten that strong in few lousy days."

The teen shook his head, though Briannaisa wasn't looking at him, "No, he is thinking like a hunter now. That is far more dangerous than mere strength alone."

Clyde regretted saying those words the moment they left his mouth. She unleashed her Ren. At that moment he realized the gap between the two.

"Ah. Good. I can't use Nen, but I guess won't have to hold back on beating him up," her voice was cold.

She refused to believe he was good enough to be part of her family.


I was around six and a half kilometers away, or four miles from Mayer's house when the sound of my alarm trap triggered. That meant Briannaisa was with Clyde. Good.

The moment Clyde went to sleep with that leopard, I turned around and made that area into a legit campsite. I even covered Clyde in more furs out of my 'niceness', in actuality to hide his appearance completely. The leopard could do the rest.

I hoped that they'd fight each other like idiots for more than a few minutes. The more time they gave me the better. That's because it gave me the opportunity to take advantage of their last defender's solitude.

Kalvin was alone defending his property like a homesteader against a pack of wolves. Or something... I think that analogy works? I don't know shit about the old west.

Anyways. I felt good, I felt great! I knew I was there. I could get there in twenty minutes I sprinted all out. Faster if threw these furs and supplies away, but not yet. I might need them.

I only needed twenty minutes of distraction. If everything went smoothly I could set-

Three whistles. Followed by two more. I cursed under my breath.

It wasn't even three minutes! I knew I should of booby-trapped that place to hell instead of setting up alarms. Lit the whole forest on fire the moment Clyde moved.

But I wasn't heartless, and I'm pretty sure Clyde knew what I was doing and let me do it. It became obvious that I was only scratching the surface of everyone's personalities. The more I learned about the twins the clearer the differences between them were. Hopefully, I wouldn't get to learn anything more about Kalv-

The sound of the wind was all I had as a warning before Kalvin slammed into me with what felt like the force of a wrecking ball.

Right into my left fucking shoulder. I can't even begin to describe the pain. It was beyond anything I ever felt before.

I tumbled to the ground, roaring in pain and screaming out so many vulgar insults I'm pretty sure I'm going to hell if I died a second time. But the rage and fury I felt fought off my body's demand to pass out from the pain. I punched the ground as hard as I could to relieve some pain, even if it only helped psychologically. I stood back up to face my opponent.

Kalvin was standing with his arms spread out like a showman on stage, smiling that shit-eating grin he wore when beating my ass during sparring. He knew he had me at the advantage, and I already alerted my position when I screamed in pain. Why wouldn't he feel supremely confident?

Well, he shouldn't be. 'Cause he looked like shit. He looked as tired as Clyde was. Pale, ghostly skin, and dark circles under his eyes. The twin was also swaying slightly from fatigue. That wasn't the worst of it though.

He looked way worse off than Clyde. Clyde looked kinda beat up, but Kalvin looked like he fought an army barehanded. His clothing was torn to shreds. His jacket looked like a ripped apart trash bag, the coat stuffing spilling out like white blood. He had bruises, bumps, and cuts all over. What the hell did they go through? That couldn't have been caused by few monkeys!

The worst of it was his legs. Most of the clothing below his waist was burned off. Weirdly enough, his skin was fine; not a sign of burns at all, not even a blister. That sent a chill down my spine.

It did bring up a thought... Clyde didn't show any signs of his clothes being burned, and I doubt Briannaisa would have gotten caught in my traps. Claudette's just as good as Briannaisa and wasn't even with them...

Everything clicked together. My brain couldn't take the stupidity of it all.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I pointed at him, "You're the one who triggered all my traps? All ten of them?! How?"

I thought they were twins, Clyde didn't seem stupid enough to do this. Kalvin's lower body barely had enough material to qualify for short-shorts, let alone pants.

Kalvin bared his teeth and his eye began twitching in response. He pointed an angry finger at me, stabbing it at me with each exclamation, "I did not trigger ten traps, only four! And you are at fault here, treacherous fiend! You used my concern for my dear pupil against me!' he closed his eyes and began gesturing with his arms, "At first I believed you, dear James, to be dead... My heart could not bear another of my father's students to be lost! But I believed you to be cunning, strong, brave enough! For have I not taught you en-"

I could hear Kalvin's scream of rage when he realized I was already thirty meters away and booking it. I wasn't going to stand around wasting my time listening to him, especially when the asshole restarted the intense pain in my shoulder. Fuck this guy.

"You villain! You have no honor! It is no wonder you used so many traps!" he said as he began catching up to me in an exaggeratedly comical running pose. It would have been hilarious if he wasn't right behind me.

Two things were on my mind: Why does he talk like he's starring in a play? And how the fuck do I get out of this situation?

The first one didn't matter, obviously, and the second mattered immensely. The pain wasn't fading as fast as I liked and thirty-meter head start was nothing for this guy, even if I was sprinting at more than twenty miles per hour (32.2 kmh). I could hear him behind me, almost at arms reach like the grim reaper himself.

Fuck it.

I abruptly cut to the right as fast as possible, just as I was in Kalvin's reach. I knew he was caught off guard the moment he ran into my present I left hanging in the air. An oil slickened rope that I prepared while setting up Clyde's fake camp. Hopefully, this would work.

Turning around to face Kalvin, I twisted my wrist so that the rope would curl around him. One of my knives was attached to the other end of the rope, being used as a counterweight so I could better manipulate the rope. If I could get the knife to stab into him or get the rope to twist around his body I could catch him into my trap. Hell, even if the knife got stuck in his clothes, I would be dandy.

But my luck had been hit or miss all week, so why the fuck now would my plans start working perfectly?

Kalvin proved why he was a Hunter, even as tired and pissed off as was. He knew exactly what I was doing and pushed the rope above him and ducked low, throwing off my rope and taking a big step towards me through my adrenaline-fueled, slow-motion vision. I bit down my fear and prayed to god my brilliant, make-this-up-on-the-spot backup plan worked.

With all the speed, reflexes, and concentration I could muster, my knife started to cut through the rope; very slowly. Too slowly.

I started to panic as it felt my body slow down like I was in molasse. I thought something was wrong until I realized Kalvin was moving in slow motion too: except for his eyes. In between seconds in time, Kalvin and I stared at each other. I could see his eyes moving, analyzing my actions while I stared back at him doing the same; both of our bodies frozen in time. Our minds moving far faster than our bodies could hope to go.

And just like that, everything sped up as my knife cut through the rope. Kalvin reacted immediately, not knowing what I was doing but knowing that it wasn't good for his health. He ducked low, getting as far from the midair rope as possible while still closing the distance between us. I knew what he was doing, but I couldn't react yet or he'd counter me.

With fire and fury, I roared as I moved my left arm with my biceps, triceps, and any other muscle that was responded and flung it in the direction of the rope. In my hand was the firestarter. It was pointless now, but I had to keep going. From all the traps I had set, I was covered in enough oil residue to make this my stupidest plan yet. My thumb pressed down on the pole and I prayed to god I didn't light myself on fire.

But fate swung back in my favor as the sparks miraculously didn't land on me and connected with the rope. The entire rope almost ignited instantaneously, even though things were moving slower because of the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

But it was pointless. None of the rope was on him.

Kalvin smiled in victory, his vicious grin almost wrapping around his head. I knew what he was doing as he pulled back his left arm to hit me with his signature punch.

A left to hook to the liver.

I stared in horror as his arm flew forward in slow motion. Even though I was covered from shoulder to toe in white fur, his body knew where to aim to hit my liver. I grimaced for the hit. Kalvin smiled in triumph.

Only for his fist to hit my elbow. His face twisted into pain as now it was me smiling in triumph. He couldn't see what was under the piles of fur I was in and assumed I was defenseless. Wrong.

What, he thought I wouldn't figure out how to counter his move after nearly killing me with a punch to the liver?

With all the pent up frustration and anger of months, I grabbed the back of his head with my right hand and slammed my knee into his face. At full power.

My knee sank in with a vicious 'crack', a spout of blood coming out from where I hit his nose. I could feel the force of the hit through the vibrations in my hands. The power of my blow started to pull me with him, so I let go as he rose into the air and fell backward on to the ground. I was horrified at how hard I hit him...

Because he was barely even hurt. He was stunned, nose a little bloody and maybe disoriented, but he was conscious and fine. His face wasn't even one of pain, but of immense disappointment that I had caught him with a hit.

I ran. No, sprinted for my life as my right arm pumped as hard as it could. I was probably five and and a half kilometers away, so about three and a half miles away? I could make it. I could make it. I had to make it. My hardest blow connected flush and he was barely phased.

I don't know how far I got before Briannaisa tackled me from behind. I knew it was her the moment she hit me, thin arms and small hands that were monstrously strong.

She had me face down on the ground as the maid wrapped her arms around my neck and began to choke the life out of me. I rammed my elbow into her midsection, only to feel steel and pain as I realized how tough she was and how hard Kalvin had hit my elbow. I ignored both as I continued to ram my boney joint into her body in vain.

The pain and pressure got worse as she hoisted me up with her strength. It felt like my head was about to explode from the tightness of her chokehold. I was taller than her by four or five inches, so I tried to use that against her by bending forward. She squashed that idea before it even had a chance to get out of the door when she kicked out my left knee. I fell down, kneeling on one leg as I focused on trying to breathe for dear life.

She was playing with me. Briannaisa could have ended this in seconds. That was the only saving grace I had. I had to take advantage of that. As my vision grew darker, I passed the fire starter from my left hand into my right. I reached behind and sent sparks into her eyes.

The maid let go instantly, growling in frustration. As she rubbed her eyes, I gasped for sweet air and kicked her as hard as I could in the stomach. Warmth crept into my heart as I sent her sailing over ten feet back. My neck felt sore and painful, but I could breathe; my windpipe fine. My breath got caught in my throat as she slowly got up like Frankenstein's monster, still clutching her eyes in discomfort.

I run as fast as my beaten body would let me. Time lost all significance to me in my mad scramble to escape those monsters. I hit them harder than I hit Caesar. My foot and knee hurt! They're not even hurt!

But I managed, somehow, to make it. Right in front of me stood the gates of Mayer's Estate. It was so close. Only meters away. I could even see Mayer with his arms crossed, looking like an impartial judge. Far to his left was Claudette.

Something was wrong with her. She just stood there like an unplugged robot. Her eyes were distant and dead. And she was drenched in dry, brown blood. Jesus Christ, what did she see in those woods?

A pair of footsteps behind me broke my contemplation. I ran, hard.

I roared as I pushed myself to the absolute limit my broken body would let me. And even as battered I was, I was fast. Gnarled roots and uneven terrain became obstacles that I stumbled and tripped over as I tried to keep up my speed to escape my pursuers. My body doing its best to keep up with what I demanded of it, but my resolve had long since moved past the line that even my superhuman body could keep up with. Yet it valiantly lurched on.

Closer, closer. The path opened up as the clearing that held Mayer's estate emerged in the distance. A tall wooden fence that I had run through more times than I could count wrapped around the entirety of a field that I had trained countless times in. All of it sat neatly in the shadow of the mountains that I had been so desperate to get to. I could see my finish line in sight: large ornate wooden gates that could protect me from those pair of monsters in human skin.

My body protested, pain and fatigue doing their best to defeat me. I didn't care about the sweat running down my face. I didn't blink as salty water tried and failed to close my eyes. The sweat on my brow leaked down my face as the wind blew harshly against me.

30 meters. I could hear the two of them catching up to me. Ignore it.

20 meters. My knees popped, intense pain radiated from them. My back was losing strength. My left arm dangling painfully from the speed I was going at. My body felt like it was giving out. Ignore it!

10 meters. A sudden, an intense burst of speed and the two of them stood in front of the gates to my victory. As though appearing from thin air. I couldn't ignore them.

I skidded to a stop. My eyes were hard as I stared at the two of them. Briannaisa's eyes were fine and Kalvin didn't even have a bruise on his face, only a trickling of blood from one nostril. They looked at me with indifference.

"You did well, James. We would not want to hurt you any more than you currently are," Kalvin lied.

"Please Kalvin, it makes you look bad when you lie like that. Please, resist," Briannaisa said with a crack of her knuckles.

I walked up to the two. Slowly. I didn't want them to get twitchy and do something I would regret.

Only three meters away from the gate. I ran through all the things I could do in my mind. None of them seemed good, and none of them would get me through that gate unscathed.

So I had to talk. Long enough to think my plan through. It was still the afternoon, nowhere near midnight. Plenty of time to think things through.

"Why do you hate me Briannaisa? You know if I fail Evira will have me killed. You were at that meeting too," I said softly to the woman, not even bothering to build up to it.

Kalvin's eyebrows shot up as his eyes became wide as dinner plates. This was all new to him. Guess he wasn't told that information. And while I was eighty percent certain Zhulong wouldn't kill me, maybe Briannaisa didn't know that.

Briannaisa hesitated for a second as she looked away. I looked over to Mayer and Claudette. Mayer didn't move or react to help me. Claudette didn't even react at all, like a lifeless doll. Not even to the gnats and flies that infested the area around Mayer's home. That was disturbing.

And also useful.

If I was going to lose, I may as well do something desperate.

Briannaisa sneered, "She said she would protect you! So stop stalling and take your loss like a man!"

I frowned at her, keeping my act up as I continued to brainstorm something, "That's not what she said. I should know, my life is on the line here. She said, I quote, 'Knowing Lady Zhulong, she just might make me kill you. Know that I will vouch for your survival, but she's..." trail off ominously," I actually said that last part.

Briannaisa stiffened at my words. It took everything I had to not look surprised. Again, she looked away, her brown hair blowing into her face helping to conceal her emotions from me.

Narrowing my eyes, I decided to take a step forward. Briannaisa whipped her head back up to me, dead serious eyes glaring at me.

"It's not up to me whether or not you die. And I believe in my mom. She always keeps her promise. Something you don't deserve to have," Briannaisa said with the type of conviction I felt from myself when thinking about my father.

I pivoted from that line of thinking, "I thought we were friends 'Naisa? You've taught me so much, you want all that time wasted? That's what wi-" I didn't finish as she cut me off.

"You're the one assuming that! I never asked you to be my friend, and I never wanted to either! What kind of friend would do that!" She pointed at Claudette, who showed no sign of awareness whatsoever. Like a dangling puppet on a string.

I gritted my teeth as I stared at her. Whatever happened to her might be my fault, but I sure as hell didn't do it on purpose.

"I don't know what happened, but you know I wouldn't do that to her. Out of all of you, she treated me the nicest. That's why I offered to be friends..." my eyes became hard with remorse when faced with the results of my traps.

I closed my eyes and looked back at the two. Kalvin looked panicked, not knowing what to do. Briannaisa looked at me with rage. Nothing I could do or say would get her to back down.

So I hit her with something that would put her off balance.

"You still didn't answer my other question. Why do you hate me Briannaisa?"

Her hands clenched into fists so tight that her gloves ripped from her grip. She bared her teeth at me like an angry cat and spoke.

"You come waltzing in here with only a week's notice. No one knows who you are, and no one has any information about you. My mom doesn't tell me anything as everyone is bending backwards to prepare for your arrival..."

She started to walk forward. I didn't move. Kalvin followed close behind her, ready to jump on her in case she did what we both thought she was readying herself to do...

Briannaisa continued, staring me in the eyes with the heat and fury of a star, "Mercutio, Darsten, Arcadi, Zelle, Flole, Mayer, Evira, and countless others made sure you came into existence in a week. You don't know how hard it was to prepare everything while trying to keep it quiet in a city that's always listening..."

She was only an arm's reach away. I stayed focus and kept my breathing normal. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't sweating. I knew what I had to do.

Briannaisa Tao Long raised her arms in the air and gave me a cruel, mocking smile. One that looked bitter, "We thought you were just a new agent sent by Zhulong. But no, at the end of it all, its a weak nobody. Not only that, Evira tells everyone you're part of the family! The heir! And then you spit on it all."

Alright, to be fair, I didn't know I was heir to shit. I want to be heir to absolutely, one-hundred percent of nothing! Absolutely nothing!

But she continued on before I could speak, "You're a nobody! And everyone immediately accepts you're part of her real family! Not the one raised by her! Not the one that looks up to her! You! Why do you get to have everything, to be so important?! You didn't earn any of this! You don't deserve any of this!" she finished in tears, her voice thick with rage and sorrow.

I stared at her with pity. No one thought of her as Evira's children, huh? I couldn't imagine that kind of pain. To want to be part of a family so bad and still not be accepted. I was part of a family, and while that disappeared a long time ago, I still belonged to something. Shit...

My eyes continued to stare at Briannaisa as I spoke up, even if all I wanted to do was look away, "I didn't want any of this. And you're right, I'm a nobody. But you know how I got selected to be apart of this?"

Her eyes softened slightly, but her fists were still clenched up into fists; no doubt ready to knock my head off my shoulders. Kalvin kept staring between me and her, ready to stop her from beating me to death. But even he was curious about my background.

I spoke, and my voice sounded like a man taking his last breaths, "I died. It was an accident at work...I think...I think I was decapitated. I saw a man, a good friend of mine, staring at me; my head I mean... That was the last memory I have of my old life..."

I saw as Briannaisa's body began to slacken as she looked at me in horror. Even Kalvin stopped paying attention to Briannaisa and was stuck staring at me in disbelief.

"Hell, when I met Zhulong I even told her I wasn't a good candidate. I mean, no one is good enough from my world to even come close to you guys. But there are more talented, smarter, more experienced people than me. So, I hundred percent agree I don't deserve to be in this position. I definitely don't deserve to be recognized as her heir. You do," I said softly and honestly.

It was exactly what she needed to hear as she unclenched her hands.

She wiped away the tears from her eyes and nodded, "I'm sorry. I didn't know what you were going through. I'm sorry for...my assumptions. And.. .thank you... you're a good friend," she said with a smile as the look in her eyes was no longer that of trying to light me on fire like Carrie.

I still sighed in disappointment at what was going to happen next.

She gave a small laugh. She knew what I was thinking. She gave a sad nod before she became serious again, "I still have to capture you. I'm sure Evira will protect you. She wouldn't just let you die, not after everything you've gone through."

God damn that conviction. I admire it, but not if it's used on me!

I sighed again, this time a tired one, "Do we really have to do this? Come on..."

She shook her head, "It's still our job to capture you. And Mayer is right there so..."

I turned to Kalvin, who shrugged in disappointment as well.

Damn it! For all their idiosyncrasies they were still diligent Hunters. Why God damn it, why can't they be the normal people I knew them as before all this?!

Argh...they are going really hate me for my next plan.

My mouth turned into an evil grin as I tilted my head back, using my full height to look down on the two. They both squared up into their guards, not sure as to what I was planning. Before Briannaisa moved, I stopped her with the only thing I had left.

More fucking words.

I had to sell it, so I went hard, "If I'm going to fucking die because of you two pieces of shit, I might as well take something from you as well! Say goodbye to Claudette!"

The moment I finished the 't' sound of her name, my right arm whipped out and I threw one of my concealed daggers over my left shoulder. It flew straight at the blonde, who was not even paying attention to the flying projectile.

Time stood still as their eyes looked at me in betrayal and rage. But they looked away from me. They had to. Their concern for their friend outweighed the weakling in front of them.

And they saw...

A dagger harmlessly passes half a dozen feet above their friend. It wasn't even close.

The pair of them looked back to me in confusion, only to get a face full of fur. With one smooth motion, I had transitioned my knife throw into pulling the fur off my shoulders. Minutes ago Kalvin was so concerned about Briannaisa turning me into meat paste that he was practically up against her. That made it easy for me to cover them both in my oil-covered clothing.

But their ridiculous reflexes kicked in the moment they were covered in my clothing, already pulling away from the fur almost faster than I had anticipated. It didn't matter as I shoved my hand deep into the fur and pressed my finger down on the firestarter.

I truly was a twisted firestarter.

My right hand burst into flames and threatened to consume me, but with survival instincts and will only possible when being on fire, my left arm ripped the clothing off my body without hesitation. Still, my right hand had been covered in oil from using it so much of it that it wouldn't stop for a while.

So I ran. I was a sight, I'll tell you that now. A partly naked man in long johns running with his right hand on fire. Like an insane man trying to start the Olympic games.

It didn't feel as funny as it sounds.

I moved past the two Hunters and dived forward with about five feet. I could make a five feet jump.

Only to, once again, be tackled. This time by the pair of them. I take back everything I said before, this was the worst pain I ever felt in my life.

The three of us fell at the feet of Mayer like he was God himself. The two burning Hunters pressed against my back like iron brands. Mayer shoved them off me and covered my hand in snow.

"I passed, right? C-come on, I passed? I had to, right? Them-them tackling me doesn't count..." I looked at my trainer in a pain-induced haze.

Shit...my vision was going...I was about to pass out...

The two of them walked around and were completely fine. Only their black parkas were burnt. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They didn't even have a burn mark on them.

"Yes. You have passed," Mayer said, a proud smile on his face.

Thank god.

I blacked out.


Author Notes:

Hey all, hope you're doing well!

And there it is, the end of the Training Arc. And now, we move on to the Hunter Exam next chapter. We'll familiar faces, but first he has to get there. And ain't on boat.

Until next time dear readers!