"And if I don't?" He softly goaded, not bothering to hold back his eyes from rolling.

The two men in the back slowly looked at each other, their anxiety fading in exchange for confusion. One of them opened his mouth, not rising to his taunt at all.

"Why is there a Faunilith out here?"

"Don't look at me, I don't know. Maybe one of the guards brought his kid to work?"

The two casually conversed amongst themselves, while the admittedly attractive woman listened to the two, occasionally insulting them for innocent remarks. The only one who was laser-focused on him was the leader, his eyes never leaving Raiyan for a moment.

Are they… ignoring me?

Suddenly pulling his leg back, Raiyan filled his body with his latent energy, kicking a rock at them with all the power he could muster. 

-Swoosh-

With a sharp sound, the pebble hurtled through the air at great speeds.

Out of the four, only the leader was able to react as he swiftly slid to the side, pulling his sister with him.

-Splat-

One of the useless blabbermouths didn't move at all, his arm hit by the small rock. To those too slow to see, it was as if his shoulder exploded into a gory mess of bones and torn flesh.

"Ah? A-AAHHHH!"

It was too fast for the man, as he only began to scream in pain after a few seconds; His mind taking a bit to catch up with his body.

"Please don't kill us!"

"We're sorry! We're sorry!" 

While one screamed his head off, writing on the ground, the other two immediately fell to the ground and bowed their heads, begging profusely. It looked almost practiced with how easily they'd done it as if the action was ingrained in their craven bodies.

Raiyan almost felt bad for how quickly the two crumbled under a little pressure, hyperventilating and crying on the bloody grass.

Almost.

The man sneered at his companions, complaining loudly as he pulled a dagger from his hip holster. "Are you three really that spineless? Even if he's a Faunilith, he's still just a child!"

That word again– Faunilith. Is that a slur, or something? Or perhaps it's a variant of their race? Raiyan cocked an eyebrow at the man, waiting for him to do something.

For a few seconds, nothing happened as the two stared at each other. Raiyan's posture was lax, poised despite his scrawny body. Briar, on the other hand, looked ready to move at any moment, his posture wound up as tight as a spring.

Raiyan snorted at the lack of action, casually kicking another rock at the man as he sprinted at the man.

Briar calmly avoided the pebble with a spin, throwing the dagger at Raiyan in the process.

The dagger was fast, piercing through the air at high speeds before reaching Raiyan. However, he ducked at the perfect moment, not losing any speed as he rushed forward.

With his speed, it was only a few steps before he reached him, the glass sword clenched in both of his hands.

One would think that Raiyan would have the advantage of range with his sword, but this was not the case. Because he was only 13 years old while the man in front of him was over 200 centimeters in height, their difference in range was equalized. 

Knowing this, Briar threw a punch at Raiyan's midsection with all his strength, intending to blow him away with his overwhelming strength.

"Just… die!"

-Swoosh-

Right before the fist collided, Raiyan twisted his body to the left, forcing him to aim the sword away from Briar to avoid being hit.

Although Raiyan was confident, Briar was not weak by any means. If a singular hit impacted, that fist would surely do massive damage.

Seeing the chance for what it was, Briar didn't relent, sending a jab at the side of Raiyan's face with utmost speed.

Suddenly, though, the world had gone black in his eyes.

Sunlight pierced his eyes, blinding him temporarily as the light was amplified by the sheen of Raiyan's glass sword. Unbeknownst to Briar, he'd purposefully maneuvered the flat side of the blade to take advantage of the environment.

Raiyan smirked as he jumped into the air, being clipped by Briar's punch on the tip of his ankle.

The force of the punch sent Raiyan into a backflip, letting him use the momentum to simultaneously kick at the back of Briar's head.

"Big brother!" A feminine voice suddenly called out.

Somehow with just the sound of his sister's voice to guide him, Briar ducked and narrowly dodged the foot heading for him, rolling forward on the ground and turning toward Raiyan.

Landing from his backflip, the glass sword not in his possession, Raiyan glanced at the younger sibling of the two. How did she see that? Well, not that it matters. 

In any case, Briar was already dead in Raiyan's eyes.

Briar stood tensely, once again paused as he stared at Raiyan with intense focus. Another stare-down occurred on the battlefield, but once again only Briar seemed to be taking it seriously.

Suddenly, Raiyan spoke, shaking his head in disappointment.

"I'll be honest with you. You're pretty strong for a guy without any ki control…"

Briar clenched his jaw, eyes narrowed. "Don't talk like this is- Urk!"

Suddenly, the missing glass sword came down from the heavens, piercing Briar clean through the neck and coming out the other side. The weight of the blade came down hard, pulling his body down as it shattered on impact with the ground.

"It's a real shame you had to meet me."

"Brother!" The girl abruptly screamed, pathetically crying as she scrambled her way to her brother's corpse.

Raiyan watched the scene calmly, lamenting the loss of his sword. 

Even though Briar was about as strong physically as Raiyan was with just energy, the two were not a match at all. With just a glance Raiyan could tell that Briar was simply someone who trained, he was not someone with any amount of fighting experience.

Raiyan glanced at the other two pitiful men. If these imbeciles were his only company, how could he gain any experience? By beating up the weaklings that surrounded him?

If Raiyan didn't have his sword to help him, he wouldn't have dared to go up against such a strong opponent.

But with the ability to blind his opponent even once, he threw the blade high into the air. The kick on the back of the head wouldn't have killed, but it was just for putting Briar into the correct position for the sword to fall.

Yet, somehow, his sister had seen the attack coming and warned the brother, allowing him to dodge at the last moment.

In the end, he could only conclude that the sister was more talented with ki control, while the brother was physically stronger. That was his only explanation, as her ability to see the battlefield seemingly only failed when it came to inanimate objects.

It had to be an acute sensing of ki. Something he hadn't expected to see from one who didn't look like she trained in the slightest.

It was truly a waste of talent that these two had to die.

With that thought, Raiyan once again shook his head and took a step toward the corpse.

"Y-you!" The girl, Dahlia, abruptly stood up and pointed as he walked towards her and her dead brother. "You murderer! You think just because you're a Faunilith you can treat us like livestock?! One day we Floradel will-!"

But she didn't manage to speak any longer, as Raiyan backhanded her the moment she was in range. The force of such a hit was like a bullet the size of a rock hitting her face, causing it to explode in a mess of brain matter.

Truthfully, he wasn't interested in hearing her hysterical yelling any longer. She'd been annoyingly screaming throughout the entire exchange. What was she, a banshee?

Even the guy with his shoulder gone was only whimpering on the ground. Or, well, he'd passed out from the pain, but the other guy was just crying and apologizing.

So annoying.

Stepping over her corpse, he walked closer to the brother's body, his hand over the massive man's chest.

There was a reason Raiyan had killed these people. It wasn't because he had an easily offended temperament or anything idiotic like that. The real reason was rather obvious if one took a moment to think about the situation.

An opponent who, if they had a bit of combat experience, Raiyan wouldn't dare to challenge? Wouldn't this person be the perfect candidate to be subject to his unique skill?

It was no surprise that the man's soul emanated threads of pulsating red. A Lesser Soul, ripe for the taking.

A wide smile adorned Raiyan's once again bloody face. Who could resist?

"Harve-"

Just at that moment, a gravelly voice traveled over the clearing. "Hold it."

With a speed eclipsing anything that Raiyan could ever hope to see at the moment, a man appeared from the skies.

The man was dark-skinned with long black hair and striking gold eyes. He was wearing silver-colored light armor, black underclothes, and a belt with a bronze metal plate in the middle.

Unlike Briar, it was clear this man had both the power and experience of a warrior. 

"I want a clear explanation of everything that happened here. Now. And don't bother lying…"