What It Means To Protect (1)

Dylan surveyed his surroundings with confusion and looked incredulously at the cloth sack in his hands, "What the heck just happened? A pill should take a couple of hours to refine..."

'Did those foxes just refine those Cooling Water Pills in an instant?! But why did they enter Scarlet's body though...? Did they possess her?! But they always protected us.. no, to be exact, they protected her! They have been around her since Scarlet was one-'

'Could it be that those foxes are part of her physique? That would explain everything! The doctor told me that she has a fire-based physique... but isn't this a bit too overpowered?' Dylan did not know what to do as he was lost in his thoughts.

'Haha... there's no way that's true right? Scarlet is… just a normal girl.' Dylan denied the thought that her sister would have such a terrifying power laying dormant within her

He approached Scarlet with caution, "Scarlet, are you alright?"

But all he had in response was a gentle breathing and a beautiful sleeping face. Scarlet was no longer in pain and was sleeping soundly. Amidst her sleep, she suddenly spoke, "Big bro... *exhale* You need to eat on time... *exhale*"

"Haha, she is still treating me like a kid even when I'm the one older than her. This girl is really... *sigh*..." Dylan chuckled. His little sister was still the same person he knew.

"I should just let her sleep for now." Dylan smiled as he silently tiptoed to the door and carefully closed it after saying, "Goodnight, sis."

"What a tough day. I ran for about twenty kilometers in those twenty minutes. Now, my body slightly aches. Argh, I need to sleep. I still have my guard duty tomorrow. *sigh*" Dylan walked towards the stairs and descended to the second floor where his room was.

As Dylan made his way to his bed, he was taking off his clothes, "Scarlet really gave me a scare... I should have told Gramps before pointlessly running. Hm, but, it wasn't that pointless the kind lady did give me the pills. I should not rely on Gramps too-"

A realization struck him, " If someone were to discover Scarlet's strange physique, they might... tell the city lord and take Scarlet away! I need to hide this! No one should know this!"

Dylan tightened his balled fists and punched the stone wall, " I need to be stronger to protect her! Training just my body isn't enough to protect Scarlet! I need to learn cultivation! "

Dylan punched the wall again and again which caused the sturdy wall to crack, "But my damned 'Spirit Core' is still not awakening! It's already been eight years..."

" Am I really going to be a cripple for the rest of my life?! How can I protect Scarlet like this?! How can I face my father?! How can I fulfill the promise I made with her?!" He bawled his two hands to the wall and lowered his head as his eyes started to water.

Suddenly, he stopped and raised his head with an enlightened look, "The kind lady and the tall knight with her..."

"Now that I think about it, they felt stronger than the Chief Guard of the City!" Dylan compared the feeling he felt from meeting Kaiden and Victoria to the feeling he felt when he saw the Chief Guard leading the City Guards during the city's foundation day.

"The knight should be about twenty years old and the kind lady seemed like the same age or even younger than me. I haven't heard of those kinds of geniuses in the city. They could be people from the 'Inner Proximity' or even the capital!" Dylan speculated.

Dylan thought optimistically, "They might even know a method to forcefully awaken my Spirit Core that the city does not have! If I could somehow convince them to teach me, then..."

"They should be near the city by now or they may have been waiting for me. If I make a cut straight to the city, I could reach them within ten minutes, no, five minutes!" Dylan quickly reached a decision as he wore his clothes once more and ran downstairs.

When he reached the groundfloor, Dylan saw that the foxes were there gathered in a U-formation.

 He stopped for a moment and sincerely said, "I don't know if you can understand me but I hope you guys take care of Scarlet like always. And..."

Dylan hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Please don't reveal yourselves too much. You're here to protect Scarlet, right?"

He looked into the eyes of the leading flame spirit. 

Then, as if it acknowledged Dylan's intentions, it nodded and disappeared.

Following suit, the others disappeared.

Dylan was momentarily suprised. 

He did not expect to actually get through to the fox spirits. He smiled before sprinting towards the door, "Thank you."

When he left, the flame spirits appeared on the ground floor once more. 

Because Dylan was too distracted in thought, he did not notice that there was an addition to their group.

A small flame from the back which flickered. 

But it suddenly transformed into a fox spirit forming the ninth spirit of the flame foxes. 

Then, the nine flame foxes became nine streaks of flame and surged upwards.

The place where Dylan met them was exactly at the position under Scarlet's bed!

...

Meanwhile...

With a deep exhalation, Kaiden chanted, "Three stars of the north, let me reflect your holy brilliance to my soul! Triple Star Burst!"

The three sword's he held shone brightly. His hair stood and danced. The energy that he released was several folds stronger than his original power. 

It bursted his buttons open and showed runes emerging on the middle of his chest.

The rune appeared to be like three arrow heads that formed a triangle but did not have lines in between the three edges making it look like a broken triangle.

Two similar runes appeared around his belly button and the middle of his forehead.

Yumi had a look of astonishment, "I didn't expect that you could actually use the Third Cross Clan Leaders's technique. But it looks like you haven't mastered--"

"Flightless Cloud..." Kaiden whispered underneath his breath and lowered his center of gravity.

Then, he disappeared!

Kaiden reappeared in front of Yumi with his two swords spread out backwards like the wings of an eagle.

'What?! His speed has drastically increased!' Yumi felt that she had underestimated Kaiden's transformation.

Yumi swiped both her hands in a cross and created a shield of interwoven threads that shimmered like the moonlight. 

Then, she jumped backwards to retreat, 'Has he actually mastered the technique?!'

Kaiden let out a "Tsk" before slashing his swords at the defense Yumi hastily made.

 The threads broke and he continued his advance. He brandished all three swords as he spun and said, " Three Sword Style: Cloud Rending Talons!"

The image of an eagle barring its claws at Yumi appeared. The attack caused gusts to form around Kaiden and even cut down the trees around him.

 It was as if the king of the skies had descended and casted down his wrath unto the mortal who offended him!

"Marvelous. However..." Yumi praised with a smile. "You forgot that I am not alone."

On her cue, a familiar figure appeared in between Kaiden and Yumi. It was the possessed Hawks.

"Sword Law..." Hawks absent-mindedly uttered. He thrusts forwards his right arm as a large energy-based sword materialized with his attack. 

The attack was creating a path of destruction in the road!

The giant sword and the claw made from Kaiden's sword light clashed and created a huge crater between them.

"Oho, an early stage Mortal Severing that can fight a peak level Mortal Severing. Such a genius would surely be valuable to the Cross Clan!" Yumi exclaimed.

" *inhale* Huuu... I am deeply sorry for what I am about to do, Captain Hawks. You can yell at me all you want once we meet on the other side!" Kaiden took a deep breath as his gaze was fixated on the moving corpse of his mentor.

"Raaaaghh!!" Kaiden roared as if trying to harness all the strength he could muster. He stepped forwards and slashed his sword against his mentor.

*Swoosh*

However, Hawks was able to skillfully block the attack with his left sword and brandished his right sword to attack Kaiden once more.

*Clank*

Kaiden leaned backwards but Hawks did not stop his advance as he stabbed his left sword towards Kaiden's heart.

*Shing*

The young knight was able to parry the veteran knight's by the skin of his teeth and used that opportunity to deliver a spinning throw towards Hawks' unguarded side.

*Thud*

While Hawks staggered leftwards, Kaiden had already finished delivering horizontal slash to his foe's stomach which led to the man's stomach to be opened and the remaining blood within exploded out.

*Kwiish*

But Hawks did not mind this wound at all as his left sword had delivered an unavoidable thrust towards Kaiden's belly. 

The sword had punctured his diaphragm which made it difficult for Kaiden to breathe.

*Puchi*

He desperately thought to himself as he endured the stab, 'With all my strength, I need to protect Victoria!'

"You may have Captain's face and skill but you don't have his conviction!!" Using his free left hand, Kaiden amputated Hawks' left arm which was used to stab the sword in his belly. 

With a spin, he kicked the one-armed Hawks who he sent flying!

*Boom!*

The soulless Hawks somersaulted and landed perfectly. Due to Kaiden's spin, the arm that held the sword fell off. 

Creepily, the hand returned to Hawks and he caught it with his still intact right.

As if a lego part, he attached the amputated arm to where it was supposed to be… 

Dark energy surrounded the wound and just like that the arm that was supposed to be cut off, was moving again as though it was good as new.

Hawks acted as if nothing serious happened and continued attacking.

 Shockingly, the newly attached arm extended through a black mass and attacked Kaiden from a distance!

"What?!" Kaiden did not expect such an abominable twist from the wound that just incurred.

With no time to think, Kaiden sent a sword beam to the strangely extended arm to delay its attack speed as he sidestepped.

 He sent a couple more sword beams as he approached Hawks.

A weird sword fight occurred as the two continued to kill one another. Several exchanges lead to scratches, tens of rounds caused wounds while a hundred moves inflicted injuries.

Kaiden was the one who was clearly at a disadvantage as he had to watch out for deadly attacks that may cause him his limbs.

 In spite of that, he was able to cut off all the limbs twice or thrice.

However, Yumi's Mystical soul was continuously attaching the severed limbs allowing him to not lose any combat strength while his range increases with every section added!

Yumi shouted in a quivering voice filled with excitement, "Such chivalry! A young and handsome knight alone faces the corpse of his mentor and the villainess to save his beloved! He's even willingly burning his own soul in the process!"

"Shut up, you twisted woman!" Kaiden said after coughing up blood. His breathing was disorganized and he was panting with his shoulders. 

The fight with the controlled Hawks has clearly drained him.

"Such magnificence! Struggle for me more, Kaiden! I want to see how much you can handle!! It was a good thing to bring their corpses after all." Yumi demanded with fervor.

Suddenly, she waved her hand and a strand of her Innate Energy entered the high-grade storage ring she had. A pile of bloodied corpses appeared from thin air.

 It was the corpses of all their companions!

"What are you...?!" Kaiden paused which caused him to not defend himself from the incoming attack.

*Boom*

"Argggh!!" Kaiden blurted out blood as he went flying. Kaiden quickly stood up and defended the next attack.

"What else?" Yumi said with a knowing tone. 

She spread out her arms as threads began attaching themselves to the corpses of Kaiden's comrades. "Show me more of that chivalry!"

"You will pay for this!!!" Kaiden glared at Yumi with hate.

"Yes, just like that, my valorous knight!!" Yumi shrieked with joy.

 Then, she smiled, "It may not be as strong as the Body Possession of my Mystical Soul but my threads make me a great puppeteer!"

With a wave of her hands, the eleven bodies rose as they unsheathed swords and faced Kaiden.

 With a sweet smile, she said, "Shall we start~, my knight?"