Hoff Crestia brought Xaviel to the backyard of his house. Then, out of nowhere began attacking him by throwing a knife. Xaviel managed to block the attack by throwing a rock back at the blade. The real question on Xaviel’s mind is, how many more attacks can he survive without getting any injury.

FYUH

Hoff charged toward Xaviel while swinging his knife.

At the last minute, Xaviel managed to evade and took steps away from him.

Shit. That was really close, Thought Xaviel.

“Impressive! Very Impressive! But you still lack what I need,” Hoff said while caressing his own blade.

“Conviction?” Xaviel asks.

“Haha. Not many people can pay attention while being chased by a knife. I give my admiration to you,” Hoff said, seemingly amused.

Conviction. A firm belief in something, Xaviel Thought.

Hoff lunged and charged towards Xaviel again. This time he was much faster than he was before. The difference in speed had Xaviel off guard, making him open to many types of attacks.

FYUH-fyuh-Fyuh

Srrt

Xaviel yet again managed to take steps away from Hoff. But, Hoff’s knife had managed to slice and produce a cut on Xaviel’s left cheek, right arm, and robe.

“I suppose I have tested you enough. We should stop right here,” Hoff said while turning his attention away from Xaviel.

“What’s wrong? Scared by a bit of cut? Let’s raise the stakes!” Said Xaviel.

“Oh? How should we raise it?” said Hoff.

“Let’s continue until you manage to pin me with your knife, or I manage to knock you out. If I knock you out, I request some more accommodations, and you must comply,” Xaviel said, smirking towards Hoff.

“And if I manage to pin you with my knife?” Hoff asked.

“Well, we both know that won’t happen,” Xaviel replied.

“Hahaha. You speak so boastingly for someone who just got cut,” Hoff gets amused by Xaviel’s words.

“What can I say? It’s my conviction that this time. I won’t lose to you!” Xaviel said as he now began taking a stance. Both of his hand is steady in front of his body, and his fingers are widely spread.

Hoff notices the stance and figures that Xaviel won’t back down. So Hoff once again will try another attack towards him.

“Here I go,” Hoff said as he charged towards Xaviel.

When Hoff’s knife was getting near Xaviel’s cheek, however.

SRRT

“What... What the?” Hoff was surprised by the act Xaviel had done.

Xaviel left hand had grabbed the knife’s sharp edge. The motion of the blade was now stopped. But, his left hand was beginning to let out droplets of blood. Meanwhile, Xaviel’s right hand managed to grab the knife's hilt in the split second that his other hand blocked the blade.

“You’re... Crazy,” Hoff said to Xaviel.

“Define crazy,” Xaviel replied as he tried to take the knife away from Hoff.

Hoff noticed the instance and began pulling the knife from Xaviel’s grasps. Then, he managed to retract the blade saving it from Xaviel’s attempt of overtaking it. Xaviel now was left injured as his left hand still letting out droplets of blood.

“I say, that was a really bold move. However, rather dumb,” Hoff lectured Xaviel.

“Hey, you haven’t won yet. At least say that when you almost slit my throat,” said Xaviel.

“As you wish,” Hoff lunged towards him and managed to put his knife on Xaviel’s throat, just as Xaviel had suggested to him.

“How’s this?” Hoff asked, then his mouth formed a brilliant smile.

“You lose!” Xaviel claims. Xaviel then launched his head from his original position towards Hoff’s head. But apparently, there’s a knife that was present between the two heads.

However, when Xaviel’s neck touched the knife, the blade became invisible, and Xaviel went through it.

“What?” Said Hoff in shock.

Xaviel, who went through the knife, couldn’t be stopped as he was already at an unavoidable distance. His head crashes onto Hoff’s head, creating a rather loud noise.

Hoff’s body then was shoved, and he fell backwards and got unconscious.

BRUK

“Huff.. Huf…” Xaviel pants.

I am relieved that worked, Xaviel Thought.

When Hoff lunged and charged towards Xaviel, he purposely let his own guard open. In Xaviel’s logic, if Hoff were to hire him to do something, he wouldn’t do any severe damage to him. Therefore even if Xaviel’s guard was wide open, Hoff wouldn’t do anything crazy.

That’s the moment where Hoff cut Xaviel’s robe, left cheek, and right arm.

What Xaviel was really doing was testing his own ability without Hoff noticing him. In the instance where Hoff nudged towards Xaviel, his left hand had thrown the last pebble that was left.

Then, in that split second, Xaviel focused his mind heavily, hoping for his ability to activate. He imagines that the stone won’t hit Hoff. And to his favour, the experiment was a success. The pebble went through Hoff.

Phantom Armament, a skill to make anything within his grasps, became ghostly-like. It allowed Xaviel to make any object intangible to any entity that he didn’t intend to hit.

What happened next was already according to his plan.

When Hoff swung his knife towards Xaviel, suddenly he grabbed it using his left hand. From there, the process of turning the object into an intangible state occurred. But since Xaviel didn’t want Hoff to know what was he doing, he made it look like Xaviel was using his hand as a decoy to take control of the knife.

The moment when Hoff decided to pull the blade, the intangibility had already been a success. That’s why the knife slipped out of Xaviel’s hand. Because Xaviel already made the knife intangible to him.

“Even though, took a lot of time to plan. Was … worth it,” Xaviel said as he also fell to the ground. The recoil of the headbutt finally caught him. He is now slipping away from consciousness.

***

“Ughh.. my head,” Xaviel ranted.

“Hold still,” said a familiar voice.

“Ouch!” Xaviel felt a slight pain followed by a chill pressure on his left cheek. As he opened his eyes, he saw a cotton cloth patched up by Serena.

Xaviel is on a bed. His previously injured left hand has been patched by medical tape. While the cut on his arm had already healed, leaving only a slight scar. After Serena had patched his cheek, she, initially sitting beside him on the bed, rose and left him.

“Take a rest. The injuries should heal fast,” Serena said while showing her backside to Xaviel. She then opened a door leaving the room. Only then does Xaviel begin to rise from his back and decide to analyze the space. The room that he was in had a basic furnishing of a simple bedroom. There’s a medium-size bed, desk complete with a chair, carpet on the floor below the desk, and a cabinet with a mirror.

“Oh!” Xaviel is surprised to see another object present in the room. It was a window beside his bed.

His feet touch the floor as he approaches the window. His hands touched and opened the window. Suddenly, cool airflow through the room, sending chills to Xaviel’s body.

“Wow, it’s already night, huh?” Xaviel mumbles.

The night sky in this world looks nice. Ah. That’s right, Thought Xaviel.

For the first time since he came to this world, Xaviel thought about a way to go back home. He let out a sigh. His thought then went for a ride, and he remembered the actions he previously did.

He remembered how he destroyed a multi-million Astro camera drone. That results in many problems, mainly with the media and his own campus. Not to mention he was rumoured to be using narcotics because he testified that a mini-black hole was found near the moon. His life was going downhill to the point he’s not even sure if his original world would want him there.

“Would anyone really want me in that world?” Xaviel mumbled.

Knock Knock!

“It’s me, Serena. Would you open the door?” Serena asked.

Xaviel swiftly went to the door and opened it for her.

“Mom had prepared dinner for us on the first floor. Dad said to fetch you,” Serena said.

“I understand. I’ll be there shortly,” Xaviel replied.

Serena turns her back towards him as she walks on a corridor that ends with a staircase leading to the first floor. In the hall, there were 2 other doors with the same ornament as Xaviel’s current room.

I guess those other doors must lead to additional bedrooms. Perhaps Mika’s and Maru’s room, Thought Xaviel.

Xaviel then went back inside his room for about 2 minutes and re-emerged from the room, walking swiftly towards the staircase.

***

When Xaviel gets to the dining room, he is surprised by the decorations prepared for him. A large white paper banner was tied up in between the house’s pillar saying ‘Congratulations’. Xaviel could see mouth-watering foods on the table even though he doesn’t exactly know what it is.

“Congratulations, Xaviel, you have exceeded my expectations. Therefore I have arranged your achievement party for you. Sorry that it couldn’t be more extravagant, though!” Hoff said happily.

“Congratulations, Mr Pack !” Mika said. Though her face was filled with bits of cake, her smile was adorable.

“Congratulations, Viel,” Serena said as she sipped a glass of coffee.

“Congratulations, Mr Xaviel,” Quilla said as she smiled and clapped frantically.

Feelings of joy flow through Xaviel’s heart. Something about them feels very precious. Something about this family made him don’t want to go. He didn’t want to leave them. He wants to stay with them. He wants..

“Mr Xaviel...? Why are you crying?” Quilla was concerned about him.

“Eh?” Xaviel gently strokes his eyes to find his overflowing tears.

Serena, Mika, Hoff, and Quilla then rose from their seats, nudging to Xaviel.

“Hey, are you okay? Viel?”

“Mr Pack okay? Don’t cry, mister pack,”

Serena and Mika said, respectively.

“Don’t worry, I am….”

Xaviel suddenly became quiet. He drops down to his knees. Quilla instinctively hugged him, followed up by Mika. While Hoff and Serena watched him from a distance.

“Sorry, It’s just… haha..” Xaviel tries to explain but can’t.

The party night that had been planned suddenly became gloomy. Though for Xaviel, it was the perfect gift. What he wanted after achieving something wasn’t an extravagant gift, food or something along those lines. The gift that he wants is affection from people he cares about and those who care about him.