3. A STEP CLOSER

Arthur felt the pain shoot through him. He was forced to spit out some saliva, as the recoil ricocheted across his body. He tugged his hand and darted back a bit, he went in unprepared.

“Is that all?”

He heard her say.

Arthur gritted his teeth and thought of ways to attack while keeping in mind that he was weaker than when he was in his prime as such no matter how much combat experience he has, his body was the deciding factor, the line drawer.

『Weakness Acknowledged:

Skill Awakened: Blood Orchid

Perks: Increases stats with every stack, and can be stacked only five times before cooldown. 』

A notification note alerted him of the current development. Arthur raised an eye and decided to try it out. “Blood Orchid”

『 Strength: 15 (+6 - First stack) 

Speed: 13 (+6 - First stack)

Vitaliy : 0  (+6 - First stack)

Intelligence: 20 (+45 Aether) (+6 - First stack)

Endurance: 15 (+6 - First stack)

Durability: 10 (+6 - First stack) 』

Arthur saw the sudden increase in stats. Interesting, he smirked to himself and held out his hand. The ring glowed red, and in his hand manifested a black katana engraved with swirls down its length, the katana was pure black even up to its blade with tints of gold.

This development made everyone gasp, Arthur had an awakened ability? Why didn't they know that?

The matriarch calmly accessed the events that had unfolded just before her eyes. ❛ So that's his awakened ability? Weird but there has been weirder awakened abilities. Lets see how good he is with that sword❜

Arthur juggled the blade from one hand to the other measuring out the weight of it, grasping it with one hand.

❛ Round two then ❜ Arthur thought, having an insight of his ability now.

He darted forward, at two times the speed he had used before, and appeared before the matriarch again but this time he swung the katana upward in an arc.

The lethal blade forced the matriarch to take a step back in order to avoid the tip which tore her clothes a bit. Once out of reach, she readjusted her footing and was instantly forced to dodge as Arthur swung the blade horizontally missing her head by a few inches.

The matriarch bent down and swept Ethan's legs from underneath him, causing the boy to stumble down in the process triggering the second stack which increased Ethan's stats by another six points.

Ethan grabbed on to the sword and used the back of it as a anchor to stop him from falling down on the ground, he rolled to the side and sprung up to his feet again wasting no time in launching his next assault of fiercy slashes at the matriarch.

The lady in question dodged and parried the strikes with her right hand, she stopped moving and grabbed the blade tip with her fingers stopping the attacks midway. But little did she know her action would lead to her downfall.

Arthur smirked, and twisted his body around using the sword as a springboard to propel himself upwards, “Double Crossroads” He declared as he swung his heels down on the matriarch.

Having no choice, she raised her left hand and pushed away Arthur from her, breaking her own rules in the process.

Arthur skidded back a bit and stood up, blood Orchid powering down and the sword disappearing into fragments which returned to his finger and became a ring again. He shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned. “I win, you used your left hand.”

Every spectator was dumbfounded, who knew the loser could fight so well? However, amongst the spectators there were those who refused to believe.

“She let him win!”

“Without a doubt.”

“What a disgusting way to claim victory even after the matriarch was merciful enough to let him win.”

Arthur merely casted a side glance at the three teenagers standing next to the tree. He paid no mind to their words and turned to look at the matriarch. “So am I?”

She feigned a sigh and nodded. She lost fair and square, though she did not expect Arthur to catch her offguard that much, he came through like a tempest and left her astonished. She left the courtyard and soon after she did, everyone left, everyone except Arthur and the three who mocked him.

“Arthur”

Arthur turned to look at the trio, they were so nauseating to look at but he forced himself to look at them. “What do you want Ikki.”

“Tch, you think just because Mother Evangelist let you win, you'll be all high and mighty?” Ikki asked, clearly bothered by something concerning Arthur.

Arthur just shrugged his shoulders. There was no need for him to get riled up by a kid who's pissed at the world because things aren't favoring him.

His actions further infuriated Ikki who clutched his fists so tight, his knuckles became ghostly pale. His teeth chattered from the way he was grinding them, and if looks could kill, Arthur would be dead at this point from the look Ikki was giving him. Made him even more repugnant than usual.

“If that was all, I'll be leaving.” Arthur said and left the trio standing there, glaring daggers at his back.

.

Evangelist sat on the chair at the Cafe, her hands held a coffee mug tightly while her eyes had a distant look in them, watching the vapor created by the hot coffee ascend to the atmosphere. She wore a simple leather jacket, black turtle neck shirt and a pair of black cargo pants and boots.

“Earth to Evan, Earth to Evan.”

A voice snapped her out of her trance, Evangelist moved her eyes to see who had called her and smiled seeing her friend.

“Min-yin.”

Min-yin is a lady of average height, she has jet black hair, long lashes and black eyes complimented by her full red lips and pale complexion. She wore a blue sweater with the zip, zipped to the collar and black spandex pants hugging her figure nicely, on her feet she wore simple runners shoes and like Evangelist, she also was an A-ranked hunter.

Hearing Evangelist reply back, a smirk came to her face and she pulled the chair on the opposite side of Evangelist and sat down. “So who's the lucky man that has you looking like that?”

A blush creeped up to Evangelist's face. Did Min-yin think that she was in a relationship? What prompted that idea? She shook her head and took a sip out of her coffee. “Its not a man well, you can say it is but at the same time it is not. Remember Arthur?”

Min-yin's face lit up, in all the teenagers she had met in the orphanage, Arthur was the only one who was not a douche, a whiner, or a sassy kid. He was actually a quiet child, who spoke when spoken to, so it was hard not to know him. “Yup what about him? Took an interest in him? I know he's going to be a looker when he hits his 20s.”

Evangelist shot a glare at Min-yin, she could be insufferable at times. What did she mean by saying that? Evangelist was a decade older than the boy, there was no way she would ever get sentiments for him. “No, something weird happened, I think Arthur has finally awakened. But what made me wonder was his awakened skill.”

Min-Yin's interest was piqued. So the quiet kid awakened after all, now that was an interesting development. “So what is his ability like? Is it like yours to conjure up storm? Or like mine?”

“That's the thing, I can't tell what it is. It may be a physical Awakening like Argus of the US but it could be different as well.” Evangelist replied taking another long sip from the coffee mug.

“So how did you find out?”

“I offered Arthur a fight, after he told me he wanted to be a hunter just like us.”