With much effort Zax concealed his killing intent from leaking out. His voice, on the other hand, did poorly and reverberate his fury.
Anet trembled and lowered her s.h.i.+rt. She kept her back to him, shameful and sorrow for what had been done to her, the way she was marked.
“Three month ago, my school, Eden Formation, held its half year Martial compet.i.tion”. Anet slowly recited. “At the time, everything was fine. I even registered to the general fights of the Intermediate cla.s.s”.
“I did well in the fights. Eden Formation is not the biggest Martial School in El-Eden, but it has the best resources and cultivation techniques and so the awards for the first ten places were really good. I contented against other students between the ages twelve to sixteen in the Intermediate cla.s.s and made it to the last ten. I lost in the fight for the ninth place, but the one that I most regretful about, is the fight that I won for the tenth place…” Anet’s voice cracked as she reminisced about the mistake of that day, which nowadays she considered her own.
“My opponent for the tenth place was a student from my year, Binjo Derneldar. He and I had the same level of cultivation and our fight was mostly evenly match. Eventually I was able to surpa.s.s Binjo because the comprehension of my technique was better than his. I pushed him to the edge of the ring a lot of times and he managed to preserve just enough to not fall out. But when his mist energy was near depletion… that’s when he began to exploit that status of his family to threaten me, saying that I should concede if I know what’s good for me…” Anet clenched her fist. Her gaze was glued to the floor as tears dropped from her face. “I was reluctant to give up, but I knew who the Derneldar family was. One of the five greatest families of El-Eden and an exalt donor of the school. I did not want to give up because of the status of my opponent, but I had no choice. Binjo and I exchanged blows and I told him that I agree… I told him that I agree to lose and he… he said that if I am so easily convinced than later he will convince me to sell my body and expect that I comply, ‘like the upper cla.s.s s.l.u.ts’”. Anet bit her tongue and blood spilled from her mouth. Even today Binjo’s words filled her with resentment.
Zax’s pupils contracted. ‘Is there someone really that vile?’ In his fourteen years of life he had yet to encounter the perverse. That was why the words that Anet used when she quoted Binjo were more stirring as they contrasted with his morals.
“After he said it I became furious. Not caring who his family was, I beat him and won the fight. Like this I made my mistake”. Anet’s body loosened as depression sank in. “A day later were the last three days of the month, and when everyone could go home. Some students stay in the dorms, but I chose to go. Binjo did not bother me after the fight and I was excited for making it to the top ten and getting a mist cultivation pill. I was delusional!” Anet cried. “When I waited at the students’ terminal for the train a profound force engulfed my body and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I woke up in a warehouse, bound by the same force. Bijno was in the warehouse”. Anet’s voice faded. Recalling Bijno and the darkness of the warehouse made her pent.
Zax sat quietly, but his heart pounded as if his Master stamped on his chest repeatedly. ‘If he…’ Not even in his thought was he able to complete the sentence.
“After Binjo appeared, another person stepped out from the darkness… A Mist Lord Binjo referred to as ‘older brother’”. Anet crossed her arms, her fingernails dug into her skin. “Binjo… he wanted to rape me”. She said so silently, if Zax was not a bodily cultivator he would not have heard her. But maybe that was what Anet wanted; after all, she did not know that other than his soul, Zax also cultivated his body.
Zax held himself from bursting the question “Did he”. In truth, whether Binjo did or did not, Zax’s mind was set on only one decree.
“I wasn’t, I was not raped”. Rather than to Zax, whether he heard her or not, Anet’s words were directed to herself. “Jirendo, Binjo’s brother, did not let him rape me despite his protests. Because Binjo sullied their family name more than once in the past year, he could not let him act selfishly again, even if he will choose to kill me afterwards… Binjo was infuriated, but did not argue. For a short moment I thought that, that’s it, he will let me go. I was wrong. Binjo really hated me for beating him in the compet.i.tion and more because his brother forbade him to execute his deviant tendencies. ‘I will not kill you’ he said nicely as if to rea.s.sure me that nothing bad will happen. But then the expression on his face changed, he turned my back to him, stripped me from my clothes and…”
The blow of the event was too traumatic. Anet swayed and Zax caught her before she hit to floor. His hand touched her back and her eyes opened in shock and her dark white mist energy lashed at him.
Zax did nothing to avoid the lashes of mist energy. They could not hurt him anyway. He sensed Anet’s soul level when she mentioned entering the compet.i.tion and discovered that she is at the Advanced phase of the Core Breaker level. Seeing the color of her mist and aura, he was sure now of her overall level of cultivation. If it was not for the savagery he tried to contain, Zax would probably praise the teaching methods of the number one first rate Martial school in El-Eden.
“No!” Anet yelled and sprang to her bed.
Footsteps rushed through the hallway. “Anet, honey?!” Beka entered the room. She saw her daughter clinging to her bed and she gasped. “Baby!” If Bake knew what happened to her daughter it was not clear. By the time she got to her daughter’s side Anet steadily sobered.
“I’m fine, mom”. She said softly.
“How exactly are you fine, Anet?” Beka burst into tears, gripping Anet’s shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Zax”. Anet lowered her head. She was too upset to notice that her outburst did not harm him the slightest.
Zax breathed heavily and got up. “Anet”, he disregarded Beka and raised her head with his palms. Maintaining eye contact, his gaze was unwavering. “You don’t need to tell me anymore. I will make them pay! I will destroy all those who hurt you!”
Zax’s emanated a confidence and might that pierced through Anet’s sea of consciousness and washed her soul from the pain. In his longing to comfort and emphasize that his words were not empty, when he touched her cheeks, Zax unintentionally allowed his soul energy to pa.s.s from him to Anet. Naturally, it was not in a harmful manner, his soul energy carried a soothing intent. He gave her the “Calm” and kept the “Storm”.
Before Anet had the chance to respond, Zax turned his back and left. Hurriedly leaving, when he exited the building his figure flashed.
Anet, who wanted to call him, tell him to stay, that she does not want anyone else to get hurt, ran to the living room’s window that viewed the street in front of the building. She somehow felt better after Zax consoled her and sensed the strength in her rejuvenating. However, when she opened the window and saw Zax vanish, faster than she, an Advanced phase Core Breaker could see, her mouth hanged open and no word came out.
…
Zax’s destination was the number one Martial school in El-Eden, Eden Formation. Before he went there he first pa.s.sed by his home, to check online the address of the school.
Both of his parents were home. They decided to stay and take care of Liz together in her first days in home. They were happy that Zax did not leave yet back to the beast’s territory. They knew from Zetsa that he had to, but their son just got back, how could they give their consent for him to go so fast after barely having him home for one day?
Liz was lying in her crib, not that she could do anything else, but after getting the address of the school and learning the route to it from cave twenty five, Zax had the quick desire to see his little sister before going.
…
Eden Formation was located at the epicenter of cave two. From cave twenty five the distance was two days drive if going by bus and a day or so drive, depend on the vehicle, by private transportation. Zax was around a year and a half younger than the eligible age for driver license, though, with his level of cultivation he could register for a private vehicle unhindered when the time comes.
Having no means of transportation other than his two legs, Zax ran the distance to cave two and after several hours pa.s.sed through the tunnel of the luxurious and high cla.s.s cave.
In a way, cave two was the most magnificent cave Zax ever been in. Still… he did not come to or was in the mood for sightseeing. In no time he arrived to the gates of Eden Formation.
Zax approached the school gates calmly. He stopped a block from the school and walked to the gates in a calm pace.
The gates were closed and behind them were six youths wearing the school uniforms proudly. Five of the six youth stayed by the school gates, talking – the sixth one seemed to busy experimenting different shapes with his mist energy.
The two golden harps that made the school gate were not locked or gave the impression that they ever need to be. Most people knew that the closed gates indicated that entry to the school at the current hour of the day was restricted to school’s personal or exceedingly important people.
“What do you think that you are doing, kid?” One of the five youths, not taller than Zax but bulkier, asked Zax when he caught him about to touch the gate.
The other four youths were with their back to the gate and did not pay attention to what went outside the school, and the experimenting youth was in his own small world.
“I have some business in your school”. Zax replied indifferently.
“Is that so”, the bulky youth that spoke with Zax took upon himself to deal with him and the others, after a glance, eradicated any shred of interest they might have for the visitor.
As a matter of fact, as cultivators with some ability, the youths a.s.sessed Zax’s cultivation the instant they saw him. When they did not feel any mist energy from his body with their own mist, which circulated every part of their bodies, they immediately thought of him as another rich boy, probably of the same cla.s.s as they are. They thought the he was using a mist concealment jewel, which no one below the high cla.s.s can afford, and that actually made them look down on him. They, as proud students of Eden Formation, would never hide their cultivation.
“I suggest you leave, kid, if you hide your cultivation, your talent, at best, is probably so so. That being said, if you really want to get in, you can either wait that we will open the gate in four or try to open it yourself right now”.
“Barnard!” The four youth scolded.
“What nonsense are you spouting? This brat is not qualified to enter our school even as a janitor!” One red head youth said in disdain.
“Yeah, look at him… If he was a student he would have come in his uniforms. If he wants to be tested and register he can do it next year. This year registration is over. No need to bother our Mors with special treatment for him!” A black hair blue eyes youth snickered.
“Guys, guys”, the bulky youth, Barnard, raised his hands and calmed his friends. “Just let him, just let him… Our duty is to guard the gate, but is there truly a need…?” Bernard winked at his friends.
Giving Barnard’s words a second thought, the four understood and smiles spread across their faces.
The four might have been proud and arrogant. However, the smiles on their faces were easily read as mischievous out of boredom rather than mean out of condescension.
“Go ahead, kid”, in their eyes not only Zax looked as nothing special, but also younger than them, which he was in two to five years.
“Go on. If you’ll open the gate we promise not to get in your way. We will even be your guides”.
“Yeah, that’s a promise from seniors. Although you don’t belong to our school, open the gate and seniors will be nice and give you a piggyback to wherever you want to go”. The black hair blue eyes youth said and immediately after the other five, even the one experimenting, started laughing.
Zax did not mind their att.i.tude. His business was with Binjo and his elder brother. He a.s.sumed that Binjo’s brother was not a student, which meant that other than going to the Derneldar main estate to get information of his whereabouts, he could only find him through Binjo, which he had to deal with anyway.
Zax surveyed the gate with his Soul Sense, also checking the six youth’s cultivation. Other than the one experimenting and, surprisingly, Barnard, the other four were at the Advanced or Peak phase of the Core Breaker level. Barnard and the experimenting youth were both at the Beginner phase of the Mist Master level.
Zax was lost for words. First Anet, than six more youngsters bellow the age of twenty close or at the Mist Master level! His Master’s explanation of the differences between human and beast resounded in his head, though, Zax knew that this youths were more than just human, they were all geniuses among humans, geniuses with genes, luck and various levels of talent, not to mention phenomenal Qi and mist cultivation techniques!
When Zax finished surveying the gates, the youth suddenly appeared to be ordinary as ordinary comes in comparison to the gate.
He was not familiar with the materials the gate was made of. He could only tell that it was tougher than even the Mist Master canines’ bones in their animalistic forms. If Zax had to give an uneducated guess, he would have said that the gate was made of a very pure piece of Peral metal.
At first contact with the gate Zax sensed nothing special that required him to be careful from what the youth expected will happen. Only after he began to extract force did he feel it. Embedded to the gate was a repulsive formation.
The repulsive formation used the energy Zax extracted on it, condensed and pushed it back. Zax felt the force coming out, returning, from the gate. In his sea of consciousness a tremor elapsed and he was startled.
‘It can’t be’. The returning force from the gate only gave him a slight itch in the palms of his hands. The tremor was due to a spark of insight. Zax, which moved back after the first try, laid his hands again on the gate and pushed.
“Wasn’t painful enough the second time?” The five standing youth laughed and watched in amus.e.m.e.nt Zax’s second attempted.
Zax extracted some strength on the gate and it shot back to his hands. ‘The energy of the Intermediate phase of the bodily maneuvers, this and what the gate repealing are one and the same! Moreover, the energy the gate sends back measured to the amount of force I extract!’ Not only Zax recognized the energy, its name was even at the tip of his tongue. ‘This is kinetic energy! How could I not see it before?! The energy of the Intermediate phase of the bodily maneuvers is an acc.u.mulation of pure manifestation of kinetic energy, Kinetic Force!’
Exalted from his insightful breakthrough to even name it, Zax stopped holding back and even smiled back to the five youth. He laid his hand on the gate once more and pushed.
“Kid, no matter how many times you try, even Intermediate phase Mist Lords-”
CHIIING!
The sound resonated from the gate hinges. The five ceased laughing and even the sixth experimenting youth got up.
“Wha…!” The youth exhaled.
The repulsive formation had a limit and the force Zax extracted far surpa.s.sed it. Though the itch in his hand evolve to a slight pain, Zax ignored it and slammed the gate open. Surprisingly other than the hinges, that two arched parts of the gate remained intact, that is, their shape was not bent. The repulsive formation, though… it shattered like gla.s.s. As the gate opened oddly shaped fragment made of golden energy, most likely mist energy, fell to the ground and dispersed.
The six youth felt their throats drying. The outsider they looked down on performed a never seen before deed. Other than staring in utter bewilderment at Zax and then the opened gate and Zax again… they could not think of more to express their shock.
Zax entered the number one first rate Martial school in El-Eden and halted before the six youth. “I don’t need a piggyback. Just lead the way to the place where I can find a student named Binjo Derneldar”. He said.
“Piggyback…?”
“Show the way to Binjo name student…?”
The six blabbered.
“Did I stutter?! Take me to Binjo Derneldar!” Zax growled. His prior moment of happiness that he gained from his insight faded the instant the gate opened. Now that he was in and had to rely on others to find his prey, his killing intent surged up.
“YES!” Being stroke by a small portion of Zax’s killing intent; the six youths complied in unison.
The Martial school, Eden Formation, was much smaller than most schools. Due to its hard requirements, its number of students was thinner than most schools. The school had a few training grounds and seven, not so large, buildings in total. One was a faculty two storey building. Two seven storey buildings were the boys and girls dorms. One three storey building was the cafeteria. And the other three six storey buildings accommodated the different grades of students during the school day.
“Brother, Binjo Derneldar should be in the Intermediate grade building. That should be this one”. Barnard said respectfully to Zax. “But, brother, from your temperament I can tell that you possess enmity toward Binjo Derneldar. I don’t know why, brother, but put aside that causing problems in our school can bring forth on you the wrath of the Disciplinary Cla.s.s, which the vice princ.i.p.al responsible of, even if they just send you away for being the top expert of your respectable Martial school, the Derneldar family is too powerful to mess with”.
Barnard was talkative for several reasons. Admiration, repentance, fear and… understanding. “That trash Binjo Derneldar is lower than manure, but the a.s.s he came out from is intact to a very strong body. Brother, you showed the six of us something beyond our wildest dreams. Let us return the favor, even if it can’t compare…” In his last words, Barnard’s tone even had a hint of pleading. For being younger and more capable than them, Zax clearly impacted him and the other five.
Zax did not show the slightest reaction to Barnard’s words. He cleared his throat and stepped forward to the plaza of the Intermediate grade building.
Taking a deep breath…
“BINJO DERNELDAR, SHOW YOUR f.u.c.kING FACE!”
