Chapter 2: Mysterious hero part 1

"Little one," the guard looks down on Si-U, his eyes through his aura appearing to si-u as though they were engulfed in white hot flames.

"Do you really not intend to save me any face?" Si-U remained where he stood and his own pseudo aura composed of immense and compact mental energy rather than ki he would be able to use once he had overcome the bottleneck preventing him from advancing to the ki-forming stage.

The immensity of his mental energy hidden to the outside observer due to the skill So-hee had taught him.

"Seems like a beating is in order."

The guard exhaled releasing his ki force as he did while slowly unsheathing his katana.

All the while a small crowd, comprised of students had gathered around them.

"Kid," The guard offered "if you can take one blow from my blade without dying or passing out I'll refer to you as boss from now on but if you can't then I'll throw your ass out!"

Why is he doing this? Is it because I managed to negate the effects of his aura? Did he expect me to really accept that amount of pressure? Such violent ki could easily shatter a boulder!

Does he really want me dead?

Why?

The guard raised the blade above his head clasping the hilt in both hands, at the same time pouring his aura into the blade.

He's really going to do it?

What do I do?

"Well?" So-hee's voice seemed clear as if she was beside si-u, however she wasn't and si-u knew this. There's no way she could leave the dream-space but...

"So-hee?" He asked.

"So-hee?" The guard mirrored "come now you aren't allowed to go insane until you've taken my blade!"

Can't they hear her?

"Don't be afraid, I'll lend you 3% of my cultivation, it'll only last a second, but use that second to disarm him, any longer than that and I can't guarantee your body will be able to handle it." So-hee replies, the urgency in her voice not fading.

"It's more than enough." Si-U responded.

"Hmph!"

Within a split second, the blade came down, a sharp arc that passed through si-u from shoulder to hip. Too fast for anyone to see the blade only the residual ki.

The crowd grew silent.

"He got cut!" Someone gasped.

"Quick! Someone call a teacher!"

Si-u leaned forward a small trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"Kid," The guard started "who are y- ugh!" He fell fell face forward to the ground laying motionless.

"I was careless," si-u let the object in his hand fall, it clanged loudly as it fell. The object in question being the katana's blade, broken right at the base, the hilt still being tightly held by the unconscious guard.

"Only 3% but it nearly killed me," si-u sighed. He looked at his left hand which shook visibly from counter attacking and his right which bled from grabbing the blade.

He had caught and snapped it with inhuman strength he'd borrowed from so-hee but the strain and wound his arms had endured would defiantly take weeks to heal. Not to mention that the guard was no pushover and had he been a little later, missing his opportunity to catch the blade before it gained full force he would have undoubtably died.

This thought left a bitter taste, leaving him to curse weakness.

"What is this?" Asks an elderly man with a long grey beard who had just exited the building, his expression one of surprise "child did you do this?"

"I only defended myself." Si-u responded.

"I see." The man replied.

"My aid wan er, will take you to the nurse, when your wounds are treated she will then take you to my office, hurry along now we have much to discuss." A girl appearing to be in her late teens stepped toward si-u a disgusted look on her face.

"Follow me." She said finally.

The man had already dispersed the crowd of children and left. Si-U felt a small pang of guilt as he watched the guard being taken away on a stretcher.

"I am going to be expelled aren't I." He asked the girl as he followed her through the long halls that seemed to pass by many classes with closed doors.

The girl walked, gracefully with pride in her steps she almost seemed as if she was trying to impress someone.

"Also that uniform, aren't you a student?" She stopped and looked at si-u as if he'd said something he shouldn't have but didn't reply. She seemed quite upset.

The afternoon sun shone lazily through open windows the cool breeze that passed through temporarily ruffling our uniforms.

"If you're working here in order to support yourself, I find that commendable as I'm also from a poor family." Si-u offered then paused to look out the nearby window, "I had hoped I could've gotten through this without any complications but it seems I've made a mess of things."

"How dare you?" she asks under her breath.

"Eh?" Si-U replies genuinely confused.

She gazes down at the floor "how dare you make an assumption like that?" She looked up at him "You think that because you're strong you have the right to bully others? My brother may have been a jerk but you had no right to do that to him!"

"That guard was your brother huh?" si-u asks then offers "You don't have to worry he's only unconscious and he's really strong. I couldn't hurt him any more than that even if i wanted to I'm only at the late ki gathering stage afterall."

"Dont lie to me, i clearly felt it at the moment you hit him your mentality was, was so compact and dense that, you... you seemed like a monster." She stated, her honesty sharp "i felt like i was going to die just from the pressure and your ki why do you have so much?"

She paused.

"If you tell me that i don't have to stay here under this contract then me and my brother can leave this wretched place!"

Maybe her situation wasn't as clear cut as he previously thought.

"If i can only become as strong as you i can, i can..." She paused and turned away and after a moment of silence "forget it, don't tell anyone - what i just said could make things difficult for me," she sighed "this place isn't as forgiving as it may seem."

Sometime after, they stood at an office. "Are they too tight?" She asks referring to his bandages.

Si-U shook his head slightly, "not really." The nurse hadn't been in his office so wan er had dressed his wounds herself and now they stood before an office the name plate reading Dong-Hyuk.

Was this where he was supposed to go?

Si-u had heard this name before from his master but, this couldn't be. Similar name?

Fear gripped and took hold of his body, as the severity of his situation finally struck him.

He couldn't move due to his terror but more so from the aura that seeped from behind the closed door and the unimaginable power it held, the small jade containing the dream space in his pocket grew warm.

"Don't go in there." So-hee's voice rang out, wan er looked at him but she didn't appear to have heard so-hee's voice.

"Don't go in there, the successor -Dong-Hyuk's successor is behind that door! If you go in we'll be discovered die!" So-hee's fear, spilled over into si-u and he trembled.

Noticing this wan er took him by the hand pulling him away in a hurry.

Soon enough she stopped when they were far away from the door. She had carried him to west wing of the large accumulation of buildings.

"What's wrong? you're so pale." Wan er asked "don't tell me you felt it too?"