Ascension: Online

"W-What? I don't know what you're talking about," the elf said hesitantly, faced with my question.

I scoffed. "You're on the verge of death, yet you are still refusing to say anything? Well, even if you keep your mouth closed, I have a good idea of who it is — Elder Zhang, right?"

"…" The elf didn't confirm nor deny my words, further confirming my suspicions.

"Let me guess… he said if you could kill me, he would automatically let you into the sect, is that it?" I chuckled, taking a wild guess.

"How… how did you know?"

I blinked. "Wait, he really told you that? I was just randomly guessing…"

"Tch…!" The elf, taking my momentary surprise as an opportunity, quickly pulled out an arrow from her quiver and lunged towards me, trying to stab it into my chest.

Naturally, this didn't even come close to working. I grabbed her wrist and pinned it against the wall, before choking her with my other hand and narrowing my gaze.

"G-Guh…"

"Sorry, lady. Melee combat is not your strong suit."

"Hnngh… can't… breathe…!"

"Now, I'll offer you a choice," I whispered, almost inaudibly. "Option one, you betray Elder Zhang and help me take him down… and option two, I kill you right here and now. Which will it be?"

I loosened my grip on her a bit so she could talk, but not enough so that she could afford to fight back. The moment she tried, I would choke her to death.

"T-Take him down…? How?" She asked, confused as she struggled for breath. "He's an elder… and you and I are mere disciples… not even formal ones, at that…"

"As long as you cooperate with me and do exactly as I say, we'll be fine. Even if the whole sect is on his side, we can fight back against the whole sect. All we need… is a bit of evidence."

"… Fine. I don't really have a choice here, and… I don't like him either."

I smiled. "Good. Looking forward to our partnership, then."

"That would sound a lot more sincere… if you took your hand off my throat."

I hesitantly moved my hand away to see if she would try anything, but she didn't. It seemed she had truly given in.

"I hope you know what will happen if you try to move against me or escape. If you try killing me again… I won't show you mercy like I did this time. I'll even hunt down all of your friends while I'm at it too, and send them to hell with you."

"I-I got it. You can stop with the threats."

I chuckled. "As long as you know."

*****

By the time the two of us returned to the outside, the Zone was littered with bodies and blood. The few who remained standing were cut down by Nadeshiko, who was stained with fresh blood as she casually licked some off of her face.

"That's not healthy," I interrupted, walking towards her.

She quickly spun around with her scythe and attempted to cut my head off, but stopped right before she actually did.

"Hm~? Kaze, why didn't you try to dodge?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't actually do it," I replied calmly. "Also, don't kill this one. She's important to me."

Nadeshiko turned to the elf and stepped closer to her, glaring her in the eyes.

"Oh~? What's this? Another wifey of yours, Kaze?"

"I only need her to take down Elder Zhang. You can stop looking at her like you're about to devour her whole."

"Ah~ but how I want to… Kaze is mine and mine only. Sharing won't do~"

"If you kill her, I'll kill you," I said casually, though I was being completely serious. Both of us could respawn, so it was no big deal, but Nadeshiko knew the consequences.

"Fine, fine~ whatever my Kaze wants, hehe~"

She turned around and walked away, searching for any more survivors of the massacre. I looked around at the ruined infrastructure, buildings in ruins and streets washed with blood. Luckily, the residential building remained untouched. There was just one person who was missing amongst the bodies…

Narrowing my eyes, I had Ming Yi and Koroth watch over the elf, then headed in the direction of the residential building to check on a certain someone.

*****

"She's gone… as expected."

I sighed deeply as I entered the room, seeing the blankets flipped open messily. I placed my hand down on the bed, and narrowed my eyes.

"It's still warm… so she left only recently…"

Just when I was about to go out searching for her, I heard the cry of a girl outside.

"Hngh- let go… of me!"

"…" I pulled open the windows and peered out the window to see what was going on. Nadeshiko, spotting me, waved happily.

"Hi, Kaze~ look, I caught a live one~"

She smiled as she held the rope tying the other girl's hands together, who had a look of anger and embarrassment on her flushed face.

Sighing, I drew the curtains completely.

'Vanishing Clouds.'

Phasing through the wall, I fell from the air and managed to stick the landing. Then, walking up to the two girls, I furrowed my brows.

"Why didn't you run?"

"Hah… run? You brutally murdered my teammates… and you expect me to RUN?" She growled with venom, glaring at me in hatred.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't murder anyone today. If you want to look for someone to blame, look to your left."

The girl — Mei'Er — did as told, meeting Nadeshiko's eyes, who smiled airily and giggled.

"… Psycho," Mei'Er spat.

"That she is," I chuckled.

"Kaze, Kaze, can I kill her~?" Nadeshiko asked, pulling on my hand with a pleading expression on her bloodstained face.

"… Face me like a real man!" Mei'Er challenged me. "Do you need your girlfriend to do all the gruesome work?"

"Hey, she likes doing the gruesome work. In fact, I try telling her not to, and she does it anyway. Can you blame me… ah, but that's not the point, is it?" I laughed. "You can't even beat Nadeshiko. What makes you think you can beat me?"

"Kaze beat me once in a duel," Nadeshiko explained giddily. "But that doesn't necessarily mean he's stronger~"

"You're still on about that…?"

"What~? Want to fight right now?" She giggled and winked flirtatiously. "If you win, you get to sleep with me tonight, and if I win, you have to sleep with me all the time~"

"… Aren't those two pretty much the same thing?" I shook my head. "Not now, Nadeshiko."

"Eh~? Why?"

"Tch… if you're going to kill me, do it already!" Mei'Er shouted in impatience. "I would rather die than continue to watch you two flirt!"

"Okay~" Nadeshiko raised her scythe into the air and prepared to cut down, but I stopped her.

"Wait. There is still a way for you to live, Mei'Er," I said.

"Who said you could call me that?!"

"Too bad, it's the only name I know you by. Anyway… if you are willing to do a favor for me, I'll let you go."

"A favor…? Hmph, don't think I don't know what you're thinking of in your dirty mind… you just want my body, don't you? You'll have to kill me first!"

I snorted. "Your body? Please, Nadeshiko's is 100 times better. But that's not the point."

"Ara ara~ Kaze, you're making me blush~~"

I cleared my throat. "Ahem… the favor I need you to do for me isn't all that hard. Besides, aren't you secretly happy I got rid of those nuances for you? You clearly disliked that guy, right? Yet he kept trying to flirt… honestly, it was just a matter of time before he tried to force himself on you. Now, the risk of that is gone. Where's my thank you?"

"… That may be so, but now that he died… I will be the one blamed once the family hears of this news. His family essentially controls mine… my parents will be hunted down and killed, do you understand?!"

I peered into her eyes, allowing her to take a good look at the deep emptiness within mine.

"… The weak die. That's all there is to it."

"Wha… how could you…"

"If you want to protect your family, simply get stronger. Remaining by some useless simp's side as a bodyguard will only have the opposite effect. Eventually, they won't just be requesting you to keep him safe anymore. Eventually, you'll be forced to marry him — if you don't, the same thing will happen to your family. What will you do then? Live as someone else's slave for your whole life? What a joke."

"…!"

"Listen closely, Mei'Er. What I'm about to offer you is a chance to break free from those chains. If you accept, I'll share with you some benefits I receive to help you get stronger. As a side bonus, you won't die today. How about it?"

After some short hesitation, she finally gave in.

"… Fine. I accept."