The two stared at each other on the stage, when Big Brother lightly appeared in front of Mojun with a stab. 

 

His opponent blocked with his fan causing sparks to fly as a counter flew back, with a clang, the two began to do their bouts.

 

Big Brother’s swords leisurely swung and twirled in his hands, as he deflected the counters that appeared while Mojun continued to block and counter. 

 

Their movements grew quicker by the second, and soon I wasn’t able to see anything except for sparks flying about.

 

Suddenly a swish sound appeared, as if cutting through air, a slash mark had appeared on the ground away from the two, before it multiplied, however not a single cut appeared on their body.

 

The both of them had strenuous expressions as they continued their exchange. 

 

It occurred when Mojun was the first to lose control, as he slipped, when a flash of thin light traveled diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip.

 

The referee appeared behind him in an attempt to hold him together, however, it was meaningless. Blood continued to spill out of the wound before he bursted apart.

 

“They lost control,” Mom explained before sighing.

 

“Mom...you still allowed him to participate?”

 

“The choices you make are in the end your own. Whether you grow up to become demonkings or heroes, Mom and Dad won’t stop you.” Mom turned around before patting my head.

 

I looked towards Big Brother, and found that he had a pale look on his face as he weakly went over to the edge of the stage before throwing up mysterious liquids.

 

“Do we need to comfort him?” 

 

Mom nodded.

 

I felt her grab me by the waist as we flew towards the stage, landing besides him. Feeling everyone look our way, I felt myself heat up, causing me to hide behind Mom before looking at Big Brother.

 

Mom didn’t say anything, and just looked at Big Brother. 

 

Are you okay? Was what I wanted to say, but seeing that Mom didn’t say anything, I decided to remain silent. 

 

Without the need for us to say anything, he weakly got up. After glancing at us, he was about to turn and leave when someone screamed.

 

“Give me back my son!” It was the voice of a middle aged woman who had appeared above us with a gigantic fan.

 

Mom took out a sword before sending a slash as a beam of fire collided with the fan, knocking the middle aged women away.

 

“Hahaha, the only purpose of my life, gone just like that!” she laughed crazily before coming at us again, only to be knocked away. 

 

Seeing the murderous look in her eyes, I took a step back as I felt a chill run along my spine. This woman will definitely come for us…. A part of me wished Mom would kill her on the spot, however she couldn’t, at least not openly. 

 

Perhaps she knew as well, as she continued to charge at us until the security took her away. The women also stopped struggling and quietly went along with them.

 

“Sorry…” Big Brother apologized. 

 

Mom went over before patting his head before taking me back towards the audience seats. After a delay, the next match began. It was Olivia and Frank, however due to injuries, Olivia easily ended the match, with a dagger stopping in front of him.

 

Getting up Mom led us back towards the hotel, while I held Little Fish’s hand. Mom didn’t have us spar, and instead went to cook.

 

“Are you okay?” Little FIsh asked me, her voice tinged with worry.

 

“Mhm,” I nodded before leaning against her, I didn’t know how to describe the emotions I was feeling. For the first time, I felt that Mom was a little bit cold and ruthless….

 

But aren’t I the same? I didn’t care about his opponent, all I cared about was whether Big Brother would be okay.

 

Was this what it feels like to find that you weren’t a saint? But instead a cold and heartless devil.  

 

“Little Fish, would you hate me if one day I become a monster?” I sneaked a glance at her, she had a worried look on her face. Perhaps it was how I looked when I saw Big Brother vomiting on the edge of the stage.

 

She placed a hand on her chin as if lost in thought, and in the end she didn’t respond, but asked another question, “then would Xi hate me if you become a monster?”

 

I shook my head, “even if I become the most evil creature in the world, I won’t hate you, even if you stab my heart with a holy sword~”

 

Hearing the last part of my sentence she pouted, “blockhead!”

 

I suppressed my nervousness with a laugh before pinching her cheeks, “so will Little Fish hate Big Sister?” 

 

“I won’t hate Xi,” she hugged me before placing me into her bosom, causing me to blush as my heart beated faster.

 

Afterwards, her hands began to stroke my back, as if soothing me as a weird feeling spread throughout my chest. Does she want me to cry? 

 

Unfortunately I wasn’t sad, pushing her, I laid on top of her before placing my arms around her waist. Feeling her comfortable and soft, before I noticed, I had dozed off. 

 

It wasn’t until mid afternoon that I groggily woke up with my stomach grumbling. Feeling the pillow comfortable, I rubbed my cheeks against it before squeezing it tighter when I heard a moan causing me to be startled awake.

 

Getting up, I found that Little Fish didn’t move from her position the entire time, seeing that I was awake, she sat up. However she seemed a little out of it while ….her cheeks her flushed red.

 

“...” Resisting the urge to kiss her, I turned around while waiting for her to recover. Although I was getting pretty hungry….

 

“You both are finally up,” Mom came out of the bathroom.

 

Nodding, I ran towards her to hug her, “Mom, I’m hungry.”

 

She stroked my back before leading me towards the kitchen before reheating the lunch she had made. 

 

Little Fish had come as well, she sat next to me, as the 3 of us silently ate. Afterwards, we began our routine of meditation, studying and playing around until the day was over.

 

***

 

The next day, we went to our usual seats in the arena. It was the 5th day of the rounds, and Olivia had appeared alone on the stage. Her opponent destined not to show up again, as the announcer simply announced that it was her victory.

 

As for the 2nd match, Frank versus Mitra, the two seemed a little more energetic, probably because they didn’t want to end the tournament with 1 point. 

 

However they were a lot more careful and held back as they fought. After dodging an axe strike Frank sent the pommel of his sword at Mitra. As if triggered by something, Mitra blocked before throwing a punch at Frank. Unfortunately, it was caught followed by a roundhouse kick sending Mitra tumbling to the side. The two then abandoned their weapons and started a fist fight.

 

After punching and kicking at each other, Frank caught Mitra’s arms before doing a shoulder throw, slamming him onto the floor. The impact sent Mitra into a daze when a punch landed next to his head, cracking the tile on the stage.

 

The next match was Big Brother versus Lily.

 

The two went on stage, however Big Brother wasn’t carrying a weapon. I glanced at Mom to find that she was expressionless.

 

The moment the match began, Big Brother gave up like all of the previous contestants before exiting the stage. Lily showed a slightly complicated look on her face as she watched his back.

 

I placed a hand on my chin, there’s something going on between the two? 

 

I shook my head, I decided not to pry into Big Brother’s private life anymore. Whoever he ends up with would be his own choice.

 

The 4th match soon started, Nayi versus Jake.

 

She had changed her fighting style, where she used the flat of her blade instead. Of course it was still a one-sided match as Jake was even less confident, without any turnaround the match ended with her win.

 

As for the remaining match, Rin versus Luna, the two took it seriously. Similar to Jake and Frank, the two didn’t use spirit weapons and only duked it out with Rin winning in the end.

 

Seeing everything done, we returned back to our hotel before continuing our routine.

 

***

 

The next day, it was the 6th day of the rounds.

 

Luna Vs Mitra

Jake Vs Rin

Ming Vs Nayi

Olvia Vs Lily

Frank Vs Mojun

 

We decided to just watch Big Brother’s match and return early today. It was also the key part of this stage, if he could win, then he’ll be able to exit from the rounds.

 

The two faced each other, both with weapons in the hands.

 

The referee was also different from the one who usually appeared.

 

“Mom, did they…” I did a slicing motion with my hand at my own neck.

 

She rolled her eyes at me, however she remained silent and turned her attention back onto the stage.

 

Along with the new referee signaling the start of the match, the two quickly closed their distance as a greatsword slammed down on Big Brother. He lightly parried before returning his own strike. 

 

The two continued to exchange strikes, when Nayi found a gap. Sending a quick kick towards his side, he was sent stumbling away. Not giving him a chance, she went forward before sending his great sword out. 

 

While off-balanced, he parried the giant sword causing it to slam onto the ground, using the force of it to help him retreat and fix his stance.

 

With a light kick to the ground, he appeared before her again while the two continued their bouts. 

 

The two evenly fought, as time trickled onwards, however they seemed to be holding back and not going all out anymore.

 

Big Brother suddenly flinched for no reason when Mom had appeared, knocking Nayi’s sword flying away.

 

The referee said something towards Mom, however as we were too far I couldn’t hear what it was. But reading his lips, it was something like interfering with the match and that Big Brother would be disqualified as a result.