I Am Still Here

Lex knew he couldn't extend the fight for a long time. The only way he could survive was by leaping inside the mansion and getting back to safety.

Dox clapped his hands again, producing multiple pink sparks from the two circles. The sparks merged together to form a pink cobra.

Dox thrust out his hands in Lex's direction, directing the snake after him. Para on the other hand bent down and touched the ground with his hands.

[ Try to stay off the ground by using your ability. Para seems to have some sort of earth manipulation ability. ]

Agreeing with Elfie's words, Lex imagined a force emitting outwards from the soles of his shoes and pushing him toward the sky.

He shot up towards the sky, narrowly avoiding some spikes that emerged in the spot he had been standing on.

Dox moved his hands upwards, the snake following his movements.

Realizing that he needed to immobilize Dox to stop the snake, Lex thrust out his hand in Dox's direction.

"Ahh!" A sharp pain shot throughout Lex's upper body before he was thrown much higher in the sky. Simultaneously, Dox was pushed back by a couple of meters.

The sudden push surprised him, leading to the snake changing its trajectory and hitting the gates of one of the other mansions.

*BOOM!*

In the blink of an eye, the snake expanded to cover the entire surface of the gate before exploding. Not even a small piece of the gates was left behind in the aftermath of the explosion.

[ Good job, Lex! ] Elfie cheered but stopped when she realized that Lex was falling through the sky. [ Lex, you need to take control! If you hit the ground like that, Para will be able to trap you inside the earth! ]

Lex knew that but his body refused to listen to him. Pushing Dox made him lose a lot more energy than he anticipated.

He remembered Rio's warning about going against high-level ability users. Para and Dox did look like high-level ability users.

'No, I need to at least soften the blow. I can't go out in such an uninteresting manner!' 

Even if Lex's body was numb, his brain was still working fine. He could also feel that his lower body was working well.

Lex immediately thought of a plan to escape. Since he managed to startle the twins, this was his only shot at escaping. He stretched out his legs and focused on them.

'I just need to…'

With great effort, Lex pushed himself towards Rio's mansion. His lower body numbed after the push but he was successfully able to head towards the mansion.

Unfortunately, Para had other plans for him.

"Not so soon!" Para shouted.

Pillars made from dirt shoot out from the Earth, blocking the entrance to the mansion. 

'I am going to crash.'

After seeing the pillars, Lex knew he was going to crash into them. He didn't have the energy left to change his path.

'Well, I tried.'

Lex closed his eyes to prepare for the impact. However, the impact never came.

"You could have called out to me, you know." A sweet voice entered his ears.

A warm body embraced Lex, carrying him in princess style. 

Lex didn't even need to look at the face of the person to tell that it was Rio. She was the only one who princess carried him.

"No wonder you weren't able to bring the packages back." Rio gently set Lex down on his feet.

"I kept the cardboard box aside. We can take that afterward."

"So you have faith that I will win?"

"Of course I do."

"Hehe." 

After making sure that Lex was alright, Rio shifted her gaze towards ParaDox. Her eyes were full of hatred and rage.

"I think I made it clear that you are not welcome here."

Para and Dox remained rooted in their spots. Rio's cold glare froze them.

"We, uh…"

"Uh, we…"

Neither of the twins could form a sentence.

"I guess I will have to make it clear this time."

Rio suddenly rose in the air, her eyes staring daggers at the twins. Raw purple lightning flickered around her body.

Rio pointed her right hand towards the sky, directing the lightning upwards.

Dark clouds gathered above the mansion and thunder began to rumble. A 10-foot-long thunderbolt shot from the sky.

Rio grabbed the thunderbolt in midair, holding it in ParaDox's direction.

Para and Dox started to tremble in fear, all of their arrogance vanishing in the face of Rio's wrath. The latter didn't look like she was going to offer any mercy.

"You have ten seconds to fix this place and scram. Otherwise, this lightning bolt is going to pass through your abdomen and roast your insides." Rio said calmly.

In the blink of an eye, Para used his skills to make the ground return to normal. They bowed their heads, planning to escape.

"Good. Now it's time for your punishment for trying to harm my…" Rio paused for a second. "Butler."

Rio threw the lightning bolt towards the twins. It broke off into two smaller lightning bolts.

Both the lightning bolts embedded themselves in Para and Dox's shoulders. Screams of pain rose through the air.

"So..Sorry!" Para shouted before vanishing underground with his twin.

Seeing that the twins left, Rio sighed and snapped her fingers. The clouds overhead dispersed. The atmosphere also calmed down.

Rio landed beside Lex, her eyes checking his condition.

"Lex, are you still paralyzed?" 

"No, I can move my body now. Though I am feeling a strange ache throughout my body." 

"That is quite expected. I will order some painkillers as well as medicine for headaches. You are going to need a whole lot of them from here onwards." 

Rio then walked towards the cardboard box containing the dumbbells and lifted it. She started moving back to the mansion without looking back at Lex.

"Thank you for saving me," Lex said aloud while following Rio back inside the house. "Though why did you let those two get away?"

"It's because they are Allen's favorite lapdogs and I know them quite well. If I killed them and he found some new powerful replacements, it would be troublesome for me." A sad look appeared on her face. "It would be troublesome for both of us."

"Why do you look sad?"

"Because…" Rio's voice trailed off as she stopped walking. "I sent you out here. I should have known that something like this would happen. I let down my guard. What if something terrible happened to you…"

Rio's body began to tremble. Watching this, Lex instinctively stepped closer to her.

"But I am still here. You saved me and I don't even have a scratch on my body. Everything is fine."

Slowly, Lex wrapped his arms around Rio in hopes of comforting her. The warmth of her body transferred to him alongside her sweet fragrance.

Lex, however, didn't notice these things. He was fully engrossed in comforting Rio.

"That is true…" Rio lifted her eyes to meet Lex's eyes.

The two stared into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds. Finally, Lex decided to step back to prevent things from becoming too awkward.

"See, I am fine." 

"Yeah. I am sorry that you had to go through that. I will make sure nothing like this happens again." Rio said with resolve.

"Even if something like this happens, you will be there to protect me. I am not worried." Lex grinned.

He believed that if in the future, someone came to harm him, Rio would be there to protect him. 

'I can't rely on her forever. I need to get stronger as well.'

Lex pledged to himself that he would never see himself hopelessly struggling in a fight.

[ I promised to make you the strongest. I will uphold that promise. ] Elfie pledged the same thing alongside Lex.

"What do you want to eat?" Lex questioned while stepping inside the mansion.

"Anything is fine, to be honest. What do you…" Rio paused when she noticed that something was wrong with Lex.

The moment Lex stepped inside the mansion, his vision blacked out. His limp body immediately began to fall.

"LEX?!"