Outsider.

"Brother."

Zhao Lei arrived at the entrance of the cell.

"You are here."

Zhao Qiao slowly whispered. He had accepted his crime, and had been subjected to torture for 7 days straight.

After speaking those words, he coughed up some blood.

"Why are you lying?"

Zhao Lei didn't believe it for one second.

"I am not lying. I killed the head."

The evidence was there. No one could contest against the conclusion.

"Tell me who it was."

This was the first time his brother had lied to him. Zhao Lei was not going to let his brother sacrifice himself as a scapegoat.

"Whoever it is, the Zhao Family will stand strong behind you! We will fight them to the bitter end!"

Fury and Determination. Zhao Lei was ready for a war.

"Ha ha."

He chuckled at those words. Struggling to gasp for air, the elder brother could feel nothing but amusement at that statement.

"Was I wrong to believe that you are fit to be the leader of this family?"

His words were like an arrow through his heart.

"Focus on the future. Don't doom everyone just for me. I am a disciple of Zhao Family first, and your brother second. Any sort of sacrifice for the family is acceptable, except for the sacrifice of the family itself."

Zhao Qiao wasn't going to let anything change his mind.

"You do not understand. I will not be able to help you if you willingly give yourself up. We are brothers. No matter what relation comes first, we are supposed to protect each other."

Lei pleaded.

"I am no longer your brother, Zhao Lei. My last sacrifice has already taken place. I have killed the head of the Zhao family, a crime deserving of the capital punishment. You are the head now. Make the correct choice."

There was no other way. A war would only serve to destroy whatever effort their ancestors had made.

"If you want to help me, give me a chance to spend the last days of my life in solitude. Let me leave this place, and let me wander like a nomad."

Zhao Lei teared up.

"And if you cannot do that, then make sure that my death is swift."

Zhao Qiao. The greatest talent of the Zhao family.

"For I am no longer a disciple, nor I am an assassin."

Had been reduced to a traitor.

-----------------------------------------------------

"The Zhao Family's verdict was to leave my fate up to the new leader, Zhao Lei. The Other families had already set up a condition. If the Zhao family wants to continue to be a part of the collective, I must die. Lei worked hard to get me a better sentence, and let me be a prisoner in the Zhao family. He was the head, and he had to make many concessions in our authority for that. I was against this, but he was not going to let me die without getting the name of the real culprit out of me."

He placed his arm over the missing eye.

"Then, one night, I had another close encounter with death."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Inside the cell, chained to the ground. Zhao Qiao had only himself to talk to.

The memory of his promotion to the head disciple kept haunting him at night. Even with his superior resistance to mental issues, he was unable to protect himself from self reflection.

He had students. He had comrades. He had a sworn brother.

All of them were affected by this. But he had faith in Zhao Lei. He would lead their family back to glory, and he wouldn't let his students be casted out of the family.

"Tap...Tap...Tap..."

The sound of footsteps. He raised his head.

At first, he couldn't recognize who it was. But as soon as his blurry vision cleared up, he frowned.

"Brother Wei."

He weakly said.

Wei didn't respond. He opened the cell door, and walked in.

He placed both of his hands around his neck.

"I cannot let a traitor like you live."

His grip started to tighten.

As he heard those words, the student simply smiled.

"I have disappointed you. As...your...s-student..."

His face was becoming blue by the second.

"you...have...every...right..."

The smile didn't fade away. He was actually happy to die at his teacher's hands.

This made Wei furious.

"On my way here, I killed every single one of your students."

His smile faded away.

"Even though my hands were behind their deaths, your actions are responsible."

Zhao Qiao started to gasp for air. His grip was tightening.

"You are responsible."

He looked him straight into his eye, and said.

The student closed his eyes. His eyes started to water up.

"All...for...the...family..."

This wasn't meant for Zhao Wei.

'For honor, and for duty.'

He thought to himself. His sins will never be forgiven.

Acceptance. This time, towards death.

"Zhao Wei!"

A sword strike. The family head was here.

Wei sensed the strike and moved. He barely dodged the the slash, which had been meant for beheading him.

Mid-air, he let go of Zhao Qiao's neck. The sword cut through his left eye, before he fell to the ground.

"You were going to kill me for this traitor!"

Zhao Wei looked at his other student and asked.

"You killed 38 of our family members. I have enough reasons to execute you, right here and right now!"

The family was already in turmoil. Could they afford to lose any more members?

"Then why is he still alive?"

Lei looked towards his brother. He was on the ground with his face in a puddle of blood.

"I am the family head. If I think that he should live, then he will live!"

He rushed towards his teacher, aiming to cut him down once and for all.

Zhao Wei couldn't dodge, so he tried to defend himself with his leg.

Without any hesitation, Lei cut it off.

'Groan.'

Zhao Wei dropped to the ground.

"Now, repent for your rage."

Zhao Lei raised his sword, and swung it down towards his neck.

"S-stop..."

The elder brother grabbed his leg.

The sword stopped just above his neck.

"Don't...kill...him..."

Zhao Qiao pleaded.

"He...he..."

He was struggling to speak.

"Is...our...master..."

Zhao Lei raised his sword.

A minute of silence passed.

Lei controlled his temper and said,

"Zhao Wei, as the murderer of a fellow family member, I should kill you, right here and right now. Know this. Your suffering has just begun. You, a loyal member to the Zhao family, has been spared thanks to the person publicly branded as a traitor. And you, the master of the head of Zhao family, has been sentenced to a lifelong exile. We will not accept you as our own any more. You will forever be an outsider. Nothing more, nothing less. Do as you wish outside of our family. But in here, you are an outsider."