Another two arrows. They're reinforced with Chi this time. He uses his sword to block the first one, but his blade breaks. Caught of guard by this, the second arrow pierces his gut. He ducks to avoid the blade swinging at him from behind, and kicks the assaulter away to create distance. He scans the area and realizes he is encircled. As he looks at their faces, he notices they're all grinning.
"I only have one question I would like to ask you", he tells his former companions. He pulls out the arrow sticking in his body, and then gives his wound a Chi Pulse with his hand, stopping the bleeding. "Why? I mean it is obvious why you are betraying me, you have got to have been offered some kind of incentive by someone who wants me dead, probably status or monetary compensation. But even so, why are you all enjoying this so much, even though in all the time we have worked together, I have never done you any wrong?".
"Why are we enjoying this? That is an easy question to answer. It's because we despise you, deeply, from our very cores.", Wertan explains to him, his voice trembling in excitement and anger. "You were given everything. Power, fame and once you were adopted by the royal family, more money than you could ever wish for as a normal human being. All of us who are here, we've all given so much to even get to be in the position we're in right now. And you, you were still given more by life despite not doing anything!"
The archers let reinforced arrows lose once again. Being ready for it this time, he deflects both in a fluents motion of his left hand.
"So, you are saying that you have suffered a great deal and ended up receiving less than I have, that is why you hate me? Envy? Are you kidding me, or are you stupid?", Nathan comments, his tone colder than a gust of wind on a winter night, and his face remains as distant and expressionless as ever.
The swordmaster dashes forward and takes swings at Nathan, but can't hit him.
"That's just one more of the reasons we hate you! That damn condescending tone of yours! You always seem so careless, like nothing could touch you!" Nathan keeps dodging his sword, looking for an opening. Just when he thinks he found one, another blade appears to his right flank. He ducks underneath both swords, gets into a handstand position, and kicks both blades away with his armored shins in a spinning motion. "Even now, you act like we're no threat to you! Even though you've never properly trained in your life!" Another arrow makes it's way towards Nathan. He pushes himself up high enough to not just stand up, but fly above the arrows, and breaks down the sword of a third enemy rushing in with a loud thunder.
"So stupidity it is. Do you actually believe I achieved this level of skill without having trained?", he asks him as he closes in. He blocks his sword with his left hand, then goes for a strike with his right. It's blocked by Wertan's elbow. Now a left hook, blocked once again. His enemy goes for an upwards swing of his blade, he deflects with his shin. They trade blows in rapid succession, but no one lands a proper hit. They're broken apart by another arrow, he dodges once more. Yet another of his former squad members thrusts at him with a spear, only to be easily parried by his hands. "You have given in into mediocrity, content with your achievements, and you barely train a few hours every week. The only reasons you have accepted the lies told by the royal family about me not training at all, is because it is far more comfortable for you to accept than the possibility of me just putting in more effort. Do you honestly believe my life is that easy?! Just relaxing all they, and giving a nice smile every once in a while?!", he begins to raise his voice as he pushes the attack on the spearman.
"Quit being such an arrogant brat! Do you think your life is hard?!", the spearman roars.
"What do you even know about my life? You do not know anything at all, besides rumors and lies that is.", his voice settles down a bit as he snaps his opponents spear in half. An arrow come flying from behind him, but he just moves his body to the side to dodge it without even turning around. "You simply want someone to blame. You stopped committing to growth. As warriors, you should very well know that my prowesses are not something you are simply born with!", his voice rises again as images of a dark cellar and a hungry kitten flash before his eyes. He bashes against the Chi reinforced shield, creating lightning after lightning, denting it with his bare hands.
"Shut up!", another swordsman, member of the Riman Dojo, yells at him as he takes a large swing at him from behind. Nathan steps to the left, and in one fluent motion, turns around to break his knee with a sidekick.
"You want to believe those stories because you want to believe that you could not have risen to the top through your own efforts!", he yells at his enemies as he blasts of the Riman Dojo's warriors head with a single strike of his palm, discharging a lightning blast that sets the ground ablaze. Nathan curls up a little, and caughs. Blood. He used to much energy.
"Wow, I've never seen you this riled up!", Wertan bawls at him as he tries to strike the wounded man down, but with no success.
"All of you have had the freedom to pursue whatever you want. You could go where you want, stay where you want, and strive for what you want. And yet, all of you seem to believe my life, with a predetermined route, and no own decissions to speak off, is better.", Nathan tells them, now in his cold voice once again. "Fine, keep averting your eyes. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe you are all justified in hating me just because I 'enjoy' higher status than you. Go ahead and kill me. If you can, that is."
