Deep in the forest-like area, Mada had gotten over the fact of what had happened. That he had been attacked, and the one that had come to save him in the end was none other than Gunther.
The two didn't say much, but it looked as if Mada was ready to just walk off, leaving his brother be. There was nothing he could do anyway.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Gunther asked, pointing one of his swords towards his brother.
"Where do you think? I'm continuing the assessment, and going to fight the beasts in here, to keep growing. I need to get stronger," Mada replied.
There was more that he wanted to say, he wanted to get stronger to catch up to Gunther, but didn't mention that bit out loud.
"Do you seriously think beating these beasts is going to get you stronger? You can see that their level is 3 or 4 at most. The level 4's might give you a bit of trouble but not enough to help you get to the next stage.
"This assessment is useless, and I can't believe after what's happened you're just going to continue."
Mada stopped in his tracks, and the vein on his forehead was growing in size.
"So what do you suggest I do, if you're just going to shut it down, shouldn't you have a suggestion!" Mada shouted, turning around.
"I was going to make a suggestion, something the two of us have never done before," Gunther replied. "Fight me."
"Fight you?" Mada waved his hand in the air. "Forget it, you're a middle-stage warrior, I already know you're stronger than me."
"And that's exactly what you need, someone stronger than you. I'll level my power, so it can give you a challenge but at the same time, I won't pull my punches so you still feel the fear of death.'
"If you fight me, you should be able to learn a thing or two, so how about it."
Fight against his brother? He had only been watching him from afar. Honestly, this was the most the two of them had ever spoken as well.
'If I show lackluster skills, he'll just continue to ignore me. He might think even less of me, but this is also a chance for me to prove myself… should I really be doubtful of all the hard work I've put in?'
'I've gotten stronger, we Red Headband students have been through things none of those in the past have been through. If we were to compare ourselves at the same age, I should be ahead of him.'
"Fine, but if I get the chance to hit you, don't blame me if it hurts," Mada stated.
The two of them went at it in the forest, and Gunther was careful to use the right amount of power. They had fought for a while but eventually, Mada had run out of Qi, which was to be expected.
That's when the two of them had decided to rest by one of the nearby trees, sitting down.
"You did good," Gunther stated. "And I'm not just saying that because you're my brother. You need to remember what you did today, and keep that feeling."
"And try to just worry about yourself. I know you're probably comparing yourself to me like it's some sort of contest, but even above me, there are so many that are stronger.
"The only person you should compare yourself to is you. As long as you're stronger than the person you were yesterday, then everything will be alright."
After finishing his little pep talk, Mada stood up from where he was, and started to walk away.
"Are you leaving?" Mada asked.
"I thought you would have been happy with me going," Gunther replied. "Anyway, yeah, I can't be gone from the academy for too long. As for you, I think it's best after a short while that you just return back to the academy as if nothing happened."
"You mean after someone from the Lethal Bite Clan tried to kill me? Shouldn't we make a deal out of this? We're one of the five major clans as well!" Mada replied back.
"I don't think this is the academy's doing, I think this is a personal grudge of sorts. Right now, it's better for the Dark Faction as a whole if we don't have any internal fighting, otherwise the other factions will jump on us if they know of this."
"It's just a suggestion, at the end of the day, you do whatever it is that you want to do."
Dame along with the rest of the people he had tagging along with him had entered a new dimension, and just like the others, they were in search for the student that would be present in this one.
The field was vast, and they decided to split up slightly in groups as they went on their search. They didn't split up fully because there was a big worry above their heads.
The Vice Clan Head of the Lethal Bite Clan, Royo, could be in here. They needed to stay in sight of each other, being able to call Dame at any chance.
"If we really do run into Royo, do you think we can beat him, with all of us?" Tinson asked.
Tinson, Joe, and Violet were with Dame, while Simyon and Safa were searching through the fields elsewhere.
"If he's a middle-stage warrior, it will be a tough fight, I will need everyone's help," Dame answered. "But now that we have her, I have a trump card."
The trump card in question was the statue. It needed magic to activate which was why Dame was searching for Safa and Raze.
For Dame though, he thought going against Royo would be a good test of his capabilities, but if he was too weak then he would need to use the statue.
Eventually, the group had come across dead beasts on the ground. They had been slashed, killed with a single strike clearly by a skilled user.
They continued to search the area, that was until Simyon shouted from the other side.
"Guys, I think you should come over here quickly!" Simyon yelled.
Dame looked over, and he couldn't see anyone there. There were no others standing next to him, so why would Simyon call them if they hadn't found Royo or something else?
As the group got closer, Dame noticed that Simyon was looking at the ground, and the dreaded thought had entered his mind.
'Is he staring at the dead… I hope it's not one of our own,' Dame thought.
When the group arrived though, they were surprised to see that it wasn't anyone they knew, instead it was of a man's head, with a straw hat, and a body not too far from it.
"That's… that's… it's Royo!" Tinson pointed. "That's definitely him, I've seen him in person before, but how is he dead, who killed him!"
For a moment, Dame wondered if it could have been Raze, but the kill, it was too clean. For a person to kill someone like this, they had to have overwhelming power compared to the other individual.
A death like this, it would be someone who was on deity level.
"There's something else," Safa said, staring at the ground.
When they came over, they could see a pair of arms on the floor.
"I think… these belonged to Liam," Safa stated.
