"Well, well, well...if it isn't the one and only Fei Wu Kai!"

This arrogant voice belonged to the young master of the Li family, Li Mu Shen. Qing Yue and I turned around to face him. Standing beside him, hugging his arm, was my supposed-to-be fiancee, Lan Gui Ying.

"Do you need me for something?" I asked cautiously.

"No, not much...but do you wanna have a little chat?" Li Mu Shen said with a devilish grin.

Qing Yue cut in. "Third young master Li, big brother Xuan Kai and I are on our way back to the school. Our lunch break is almost over."

"I go to the same school as you guys, unfortunately, so I know what you mean," he replied, putting heavy emphasis on the 'unfortunately'. "But it's alright, surely you can spare some time."

"We can't," I said coldly. "Please excuse us."

As Qing Yue and I turned around and began to walk away, a small laugh came from behind us.

"Hahaha! Who said you could go?" my fiancee, Lan Gui Ying said as she seductively stroked Li Mu Shen's face. "Unless my boyfriend tells you to scram, you aren't allowed to leave."

Hey hey now...Seriously? Calling another man your boyfriend right in front of your fiancee? Even though I don't care much, we are technically still engaged in name. Upon hearing this, I turned around once more. However, when I did this time, I immediately noticed the flame in Li Mu Shen's hand. He grinned deviously, and my eyes widened as I realized what he was going to do.

"Level One Fire Magic - Flame Lotus!" he yelled. The flame from his hand had taken the shape of a lotus and was heading for Qing Yue.

"Qing Yue, careful!" I quickly moved to position myself in front of her and took the blow instead.

BOOM!

As a result, I was sent crashing into the windows of the jewlery shop across from Grange Grill. A mere Level One spell was able to hurt me this much. Such was the power of magic.

"Shit..." I muttered under my breath. A sharp pain in my chest signaled that a few ribs were broken, along with my back from the impact of crashing into the window. I struggled to get to my feet. Although the jewlery shop employees looked terrified, no one was going to stop Li Mu Shen. That would be equivalent to offending the Li family.

Then, someone walked out of the hotel we had just been in. He seemed to be an employee there.

He walked over to Li Mu Shen, and spoke. "Sir, please refrain from fighting here. You are damaging property."

Li Mu Shen shot him a glare, but the employee, surprisingly, did not back down.

"The Li family is a shareholder of your hotel. You can't tell me what to do," Li Mu Shen snarled. "If you want to talk to me, get your damned manager."

"Sir-"

"Get. Your. Manager," Li Mu Shen continued, not even giving the poor employee a chance to talk.

The young man gritted his teeth, but still did as told, because this was a valid request. He entered the hotel, and after a short while, he came outside again - this time with a taller, older man in tow.

"Are you the owner here?" Li Mu Shen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A-Ah, third young master Li...yes, I am the owner of this hotel. How can I help you?" the newcomer asked, sweat forming on his forehead at the sight of Li Mu Shen.

"Well, your employee here told me to 'stop' doing what I had been doing," Li Mu Shen sneered. "I hope you know...my family can shut your business down at any time we want."

The man stiffened, and quickly bowed down a couple of times in apology. "Y-Yes, third young master Li!"

Then, turning to the brave - or perhaps stupid - employee from earlier, the man continued. "...You're fired."

The youth dropped his jaw in shock. "W-What?! Why?"

"...You're fired!" the man repeated, before turning back to Li Mu Shen, now with a smile on his face.

"Er...third young master Li, feel free to continue doing whatever it is you had been doing earlier."

Li Mu Shen nodded, satisfied, as the youthful employee stood dumbfounded, still bewildered by what just happened...until the older man grabbed him by the ear and pulled him inside the hotel.

I mustered up all my strength and pulled myself off the ground. I had to get back to Qing Yue. What if Li Mu Shen casts another spell? Each step took everything I had. The pain in my chest and back was unbearable, but I still kept walking. My eyelids felt heavy and my legs felt like they belonged to someone else. But I still kept pushing through. I promised to protect her...

After 7 to 8 steps, I collapsed. My legs didn't want to respond any further. Qing Yue came rushing over to me out of concern, tears in her eyes.

"Big brother Xuan Kai! Are you alright?" she asked, on the verge of crying.

"...I'm not dead yet, now am I?" I responded to the best of my abilities.

Li Mu Shen and Lan Gui Ying had come over as well, although for a different reason.

"Wow! Just some simple Level One Fire Magic and it's enough to almost kill you?" Li Mu Shen asked with a laugh.

"Hey now, don't blame him," Lan Gui Ying joined in. "Trash is meant to be burned."

Qing Yue couldn't take it longer. "You! Why would you just attack him like that?!" she demanded furiously.

"You shut up!" Lan Gui Ying yelled and struck her across the face with a loud slap. Qing Yue fell to the floor, stunned.

Despite Qing Yue being from one of the Four Great Families, the Qing family was the weakest of the four. Lan Gui Ying wasn't afraid to this because she had the backing of Li Mu Shen - in other words, the Li family. Not only this, but...the circumstances with Qing Yue were a bit different from the norm...and that was also why Lan Gui Ying dared to do this.

Everything seemed to become silent, the resonance of the slap still in the air. Anger boiled in me. You can hurt me, but you cannot hurt my family. That was the bottom line. My hatred towards the both of them were immeasurable. I wanted to kill Lan Gui Ying right then and there. But I was just a useless trash, with no chance of resistance against mages with magic.

"You...bitch..." that was the only thing I could say through gritted teeth.

"Huh? What was that?" Li Mu Shen said and grabbed my hair, lifting my face up. "Seems like you care a lot about your cute little girlfriend, huh?"

"Hahaha!" Lan Gui Ying laughed. "She's his little sister, not his girlfriend. You really think this good-for-nothing can get someone to like him?"

"Oh, is that so?" Li Mu Shen said and took a quick glance at Qing Yue. "You're right. She's his sister, this is even better!" Then, turning towards me, he spoke like a devil. "Hey 'Big Brother Xuan Kai', you won't mind if I take your precious little sister's first kiss, would you? Hahahaha!"

I realized what he was going to do, and gritted my teeth.

Do not...do not lay a hand on her!

"I'll...kill...you..." I said with all my remaining strength.

"Oh, I'm so scared!" he said sarcastically. "I, Li Mu Shen, am going to be killed by a weak piece of shit with no magic at all!"

Then he gave a small laugh and turned towards Qing Yue, still on the ground. He began slowly walking towards her. I tried to move, but my muscles wouldn't listen to me. I watched in frustration and despair. It was the exact same as that night. Nothing had changed since then. I was still the weak, useless piece of trash that I always had been.

"W-What are you doing?" Qing Yue asked, shook and frightened.

Li Mu Shen only smiled. He then turned to Lan Gui Ying and ordered, "Bind her."

Lan Gui Ying nodded and casted Vines of Binding on Qing Yue, a Level One Earth Element spell. Immediately, vines sprouted out from the ground and locked Qing Yue in place.

"Wha- Stop! Let me go!" She screamed in despair. As Li Mu Shen walked closer and closer to her, she only became more scared. Li Mu Shen then grabbed her face with one hand and inspected it, as if it was some scientific specimen.

After carefully surveying Qing Yue's appearance, he turned to me. "Your sister is indeed very beautiful, hahaha!"

"Let...her...go..." I said. But I knew that it was useless. I was on the verge of passing out, and I'm not exactly very threatening without any magical powers.

"Hehehe..." Li Mu Shen chuckled, licking his lips. "Big bro Yi Fei will marry Yu An Xue, and I will get Qing Yue. Two of the top beauties of Shenzhen, both married into the Li family."

"Did someone...say my name?" a cold yet elegant voice cut in, quite loudly.

"Huh? Which bitch wants to disturb my fun?!" Li Mu Shen demanded arrogantly.

Lan Gui Ying pulled on his sleeve and said quietly, "Um...it's the eldest daughter of the Yu family, Yu An Xue. Look behind you."

Not believing what she stated, Li Mu Shen turned around. Indeed, standing in front of him was one of the top beauties of Shenzhen and also the eldest daughter of the Yu family, Yu An Xue.

"Ah...Lady Yu. What brings you here today?" he asked politely, immediately changing his tone.

"Who...is this 'bitch' who...'disturbed' your fun?" she quoted him, expecting a good explanation.

"That was...er, her! Yes! Her!" he said hurriedly and pointed at the girl who had just helped him - Lan Gui Ying.

"Huh?! Wait, what?!" Lan Gui Ying looked shocked.

"Yes! You're the bitch! Get out of here!" Li Mu Shen exclaimed, desperate to cover up his mistake. While he wasn't afraid of the Qing family, he was afraid of Yu An Xue, simply because if he hurt her in some way, Li Yi Fei would kick his ass.

"Drop the act," Yu An Xue interrupted the duo harshly. "Both of you...leave. Now."

Li Mu Shen and Lan Gui Ying both were desperate to escape the situation, so they complied happily and ran off.

Having her binds released, Qing Yue collapsed to the floor. Other than the slap mark still on her cheek, she looked otherwise fine.She looked up at her savior. "Thank you, Lady Yu. I don't know what I would've done if he really...um, defiled me there."

"Worry not...I'm just...doing the right thing to do, as a fellow girl," Yu An Xue replied. She then glanced at the sorry heap of a human on the floor - me. "And...you? Are you able to walk?"

By this time, I was too tired to say anything. So I was grateful when Qing Yue answered for me. "Big Brother Xuan Kai got hit by a Flame Lotus spell in order to protect me. He's very hurt."

"He protected you, huh..." Yu An Xue trailed off. "Anyway...we should bring him...to a hospital." She then pulled out her phone and dialed a number. And that was the last thing I saw before I finally closed my eyes.

*****

When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. As I blinked my sleepiness away, I noticed that someone was holding my hand. I looked down and saw Qing Yue sitting beside my bed, resting her head on the sheets. It was truly a beautiful sight. I slowly began to remember everything that had transpired.

"That bastard...Li Mu Shen...I'll fucking kill you one day," I swore to myself.

That must've disturbed Qing Yue, as she groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes with one hand, the other still clutching mine.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?" I asked.

"Big Brother Xuan Kai! You woke up!" She exclaimed, completely ignoring my question. She crawled closer as tears began forming in her eyes and wrapped her arms around me. "Thank you for protecting me..."

"I didn't do anything. Or rather, I couldn't do anything. It was Lady Yu that saved you. Speaking of...where is she?"

"Lady Yu left already. But...you still saved me. I would've been dead a long time ago if you hadn't blocked that attack," she explained. "I didn't react fast enough to put up a shield."

She sounded like she was blaming herself, so I decided to correct her.

"I'll be your shield," I stated. "Don't blame yourself for what happened."

"Big Brother Xuan Kai..." she sobbed.

"If anything, blame me for being too weak," I continued. "But I promise you...I will become stronger, and pay back a thousandfold all those who have wronged us."

"I believe in you!" Qing Yue said happily. She wiped her tears away and let me go.

"Now then...shall we head back?"