Azalon swiftly rushed to his room while holding Nina carefully so as not to move her body too much. He was not a doctor but he had a rudimentary knowledge about the human anatomy and basic medicinal skills. His main concern was about internal damages or hemorrhaging internally due to the impact to the body, as this world didn't have any advanced technology for these kinds of things. At least he didn't come across any.

He banged open the door with a kick. Raka who had been sleeping on the bed peacefully jumped in surprise at the noise and hissed loudly with all its fur standing up like a cat. It relaxed as it saw Azalon and it's golden eyes glittered brightly like jewels in excitement at seeing it's Master and the white stripes beneath those eyes highlighted them even more.

But Azalon didn't notice the little gut and laid Nina on the bed.

'[Command: Commence Scanning.]' Azalon commanded in his mind and his eyes started shining with a silver luster to them. The silver rays went over Nina's body and an X-ray appeared in Azalon's memory.

'[Scan Complete. Bone Fracture Detected in the left Radius and Ulna bones. Treatment Methods based on the Extent of the Fracture – Perform a Closed Reduction and immobilize it with a splint or a cast. Estimated Healing time: 1Week.]' LILY's system's monotonous voice responded with it's report and Azalon relaxed when he saw that the bone was not broken but only fractured. This is one of the perks of having an advanced robot with Integral A.I. system fusing with your consciousness. The advanced and powerful sensors and scanners of LILY like the Chemical sensors or the Radiation sensors are still non-functional but the basic sensors like X-ray, night vision, IR vision etc... are not energy consuming as well as practical for the time being.

He immediately rushed out and broke off a branch from a tree. He chipped it off into a straight ruler. He then pressed the fractured bone into place using the X-ray vision and tied the ruler with some torn strips of cloth, making it into an impromptu cast.

He flipped his hand and a pale green pill appeared in his palm. It was the healing pill Hank had given him for his injuries. But Nina needs it more than him right now. He gently parted her lips and shoved the pill into her mouth.

The green pill instantly melted the moment it came into contact with the saliva. He watched the green liquid go down her throat and he slightly relaxed when he heard light popping sounds from the Nina's arm.

He knew it will take some time for the pill to be completely use up its medicinal effects. Azalon dragged a chair and sat across the bed watching the little girl sleeping on his bed.

“Silly girl, you went so far as to attack that pipsqueak for me.” Azalon said in a low voice as he lovingly patted her head. “Don't worry. I will teach that kid that he shouldn't be going around messing with everybody he sees.”

Fury rushed into his head as he recalled how Nina was hurled back by the attack of that Delius and she was injured. His entire body trembled in anger. Azalon was truly angry for the first time in the 12 years he had come into this world. He wanted nothing but to go find that arrogant asshole and tear apart his every limb. But he controlled himself. No, that will be a small price for what he did today. He had to regret for his entire life for his mistake tonight.

Azalon may be known as Johnny Rex in his previous life, a scientist who would dibble and dabble in some advanced scientific stuff. But he had a life before this that was not as bright and carefree as anyone would think for a man in his position. It was the exact opposite. He grew up in the darkness of the world till his teens.

In that place, he fought for scraps of food, fought for his life, fought for his survival. Hell, he had even seen someone kill another for a handful of change! The selfish nature of humans, the jealousy and all those things we keep deep down, was not something foreign to him. In fact he was extremely familiar with it.

He had risen, or you could say fallen, from a kid in alleyways to a leader of a small gang in the Underworld by his teens. He was smart enough, ruthless enough and more importantly crazy enough to survive in that dark world. But his only wish at that time, the one thing he had desperately craved for, was family. Someone he could rely on, someone who could understand him, love him and care for him.

And that wish came true on that fateful night. That day completely changed him into what he was today.

It was a planned heist on a local police station for weapons and ammo. It was supposedly a well drawn plan and smooth oiled execution until a subordinate made a mistake and shot a police constable. That alerted all the local authorities and they gave chase. He took a bullet to his shoulder, but managed to escape by hiding in a building. He passed out due to shock, pain and blood loss. Only after he regained his consciousness did he come to know that that building was an orphanage under the care of a middle aged woman named Lillianna. It was her who found him and nursed him back to health.

She didn't ask him who he was or what happened. She just let him be and treated him just like another kid. He stayed in that orphanage for over a month and he truly came to respect that Mother Lillianna of that orphanage.

Slowly, as time passed, and they interacted more and more, that respect changed into something more of a familial love between them. With her being into her mid 40s and him still in his late teens, they truly behaved like a mother and her child. It was during that time, that he had really experienced what having a family feels like, what having someone love you and care for you feels like for the first time in his life...

After a couple of years, another person came into his life. If Mother Lillianna gave him hope for the present, then this person gave him expectations for the future. That person was his Mentor, Michael Adams, the President of The Society. As for the rest of the story, you know how it went by... if you don't, go read from the “Prologue”, you dork...

All that desperation and craziness he had during his time in the alleyways and the Underworld, made him feel overly protective of someone he truly respects. It will not be easy for anyone to make him accept them, but once he does, he will give his life for them. If not, he wouldn't have wasted almost a decade for that crazy experiment of his just to prove that he had not been wrong to his Mentor, as his only fear was that he would be disappointed in him.

As they say, the more cruel, selfish, and cold a person is, the crazier they would become for a relationship they treasure, even more so than someone with strong feelings! Because, this is their only obsession! Their only hope in the darkness that lives with their hearts!

And today, someone touched the person who he treated as his little sister and dotes on. The consequences of that shouldn't be as simple as physical injuries or death. It should make him regret for every minute he lives, making him wish for a method to undo his mistake!

The night deepened as these thoughts flitted across Azalon's mind and sleep slowly crept onto him backed up by his exhaustion and weariness both physical and mental.

The next morning, Azalon woke up to a soft feeling caressing his face. He tried to open his eyes and winced at the pounding headache. It felt like the worst hangover he ever had. His eyes opened up groggily and he saw a cute face looking at him with a bright smile. Suddenly, a furry feeling came from his legs and he looked down to see a grey tiger cub curled up like a kitten sleeping on his lap. He was still in the chair and should have fallen asleep somewhere in the night.

He moved the sleeping Raka to the bed and stretched his body. Other than the hangover headache, he felt fine all over.

“Big Brother, Big Brother. You woke up. Look, look, we are in your room. Ah, I finally came to your room. Hehehe...” Nina was excitedly jumping up and down while running around the room checking up everything. Azalon laughed as he tried to catch the deer-like girl bouncing around.

“Alright, come here, Nina. Hmmm... stay still. Let me look at you.” Azalon's eyes immediately turned silvery and a ray of silver light extended from his eyes. It was not as eye – catching as last night because of the sunlight and Nina was not one to concentrate on a single thing for a long time.

Azalon gave a check-over and was surprised by the results he got. Practically, Nina was completely fine. Every injury, from the fractured arm to the slightest scrapes were gone. Not a single blemish or scar was present on her skin. What's going on here? He expected the pill to be effective, but he didn't expect it to work to this degree. He had taken the pill once and had a vague idea of the potency of the pill. But this was absurd! LILY calculated that it will take 4 days for her arm to heal, but it was fixed literally overnight. The pill worked almost 5 times more efficiently than it did on him! And he used his ability that day to extract the medicinal essence from the pill to the max!

Did Hank give him a different pill than what what he gave him before? No, that shouldn't be possible. That pill's effects were that powerful, so even though Azalon didn't really know about them, he could guess that they were very costly to obtain. And Hank already spent two of them on him.

“Well, whatever. At least she didn't have to be bedridden.” Azalon simply threw those thoughts to the back of his mind, adding to the ever growing list of the things he didn't manage to understand. “Alright, Nina. Stay here for a bit. I will get you something to eat and we will go meet Uncle Chad. He should be worried sick for you.”

“Mm. I will wait. Ah, look, look, a kitty!” Nina nodded seriously once before her attention shifted onto Raka sleeping on the bed. “Awww... What a cute kitty! Hehehe...” She literally pounced onto the poor guy and started cuddling him. *Croo* *Croo* Raka was squirming, trying to escape from the girl's clutches but couldn't. He looked at Azalon with a puppy gaze, but the effect was lost on Azalon as he shifted his head looking away avoiding both the tiger and the girl rolling on the bed.

*Tong* *Tong* *Tong*

Suddenly, three bell chimes reached them. Azalon remembered this to be the signal for the family gathering.

'Hmmm... it should be about the distribution of the spots allocated to the city. Grandfather said that there will be a meeting of the family heads of the three families to decide upon the distribution. It seems they have made it.' Azalon thought in his heart and came to a conclusion. Indeed, it was just for the same purpose.

Azalon left Nina playing with Raka and amidst the loud protests of his Spirit, he got out of his room and slowly walked to the family grounds. Erek Wheld was already present in the grounds discussing with the family Elders in low tones. All the family members were gathered, but Azalon couldn't find Hank anywhere. So, Azalon stood at his usual spot, in a corner where no one bothered to look at him.

Soon, all the members of the family gathered in the plaza. Erek Wheld cleared his throat and the crowd went silent waiting for the family head to speak.

“As you all know, the Academies have started their recruitment and they have allocated 10 spots for the City. We, the three family heads, have conducted a meeting on the matter of how the spots are to be distributed.” Even though Erek Wheld spoke softly, his voice reached everyone. “We have come to a decision and it will be announced within the three Great Families as well as all over the city. We have 10 spots for the city and the family heads decided to take 6 spots, 2 spots for each family. The remaining 4 spots are for the general public of the city. The candidates for these spots are to be selected based on an internal competition. The competition for our family will be held 6 days from tomorrow. Everyone, go and prepare.” The declaration instantly made the younger generation go into a clamor. The powerful ones were excited while the ones with the lower levels of cultivation were downcast. They can only blame their lack of talent and bitterly swallow the frustration. Particularly one guy among them was incredible excited and Azalon doesn't want to talk about him right now.

But at a corner of the plaza, no one saw Azalon's eyes brightening as a good idea popped into his mind. Hehehe... Now, this will be a good show., Azalon smiled darkly.

He returned to his room, and stood still when he opened the door. The room was a mess! Nina was standing in the middle of the room with a satisfied smile on her face and Raka was in her arms looking very depressed. The bright golden eyes were now dimmed down and it was like a obedient cat in Nina's arms. But Nina... she had claw scratches everywhere, over her face, her arms, hell she even had some of her hair ripped off! Her dress is in tatters but that silly smile still hung up on her face.

“Wha... What happened, Nina?” Azalon asked incredulously as he looked at the destruction around her. “We played, a lot!” came the simple reply. Played? Can you create this type of destruction by just playing? It looks like a hurricane swept through this room! Azalon smiled wryly at the mess of his room and couldn't help but sigh bitterly as he watched the tiger-cub duo.

“Put him down, Nina. We got to go to Uncle Chad. Who knows what he will he do if we go any late?” after scolding both of them for a moment, Azalon went to meet Uncle Chad with Nina in tow. As Azalon had expected, he was worried that Nina didn't return last night, but he immediately relaxed when he saw the both of them. Azalon decided not to tell him about the incident last night, although he suspected that Uncle Chad already knew of it, he simply explained that Nina stayed with him at his house. Some cajoling for Nina, and after talking with Uncle Chad, he returned home to prepare for the family competition and something more!

When he returned to his room, he was surprised to see Hank waiting for him there.

“How is Nina, Az?” Hank asked concernedly as he too considered that energetic girl as his little sister.

“Mm. She is fine. I used the healing pill you gave me. She recovered from almost all her injuries from last night. Ah, that's right, Hank. Where were you last night? You didn't come see her.” Azalon replied before firing a question of his own.

“I was with grandfather discussing about the meat and bones we brought back from the forest. Eh decided to sell them in the city auction next week after the competitions will finish. A part of it will be set aside as the prize for the competition winners from the commoners. As for the Thunder Horned Stag, i decided to take the most important parts of the body with me and the rest will all be left with grandfather. May be he will decide to give to winners of our family.” Hank spoke of all that went on between him and Erek Wheld last night. Before he left, Azalon asked for the healing pill but Hank didn't have any. But Azalon didn't mind as his body was almost healed too. He just had to get rid of this annoying headache. Azalon smiled as he popped the white pill into his mouth and activated the [Devour] ability as he drifted into sleep beside Raka.

Six days swiftly and quietly passed by. All the youngsters of the city were frantically cultivating with the hopes of increasing their strengths by even a little bit. Who knows, may be this little bit will guarantee them to be a winner? Azalon was not too different from them. He was not cultivating but recovering from the damage to his consciousness and he took 4 days to heal. The remaining two days, he concentrated on stabilizing his cultivation at the 5th Level Spirit Sense Realm. The Spirit Energy within his body got more rich and pure as well as rigorous. Ah, LILY woke up two days before but she was still weak as her battery charge was still not full.

Finally, the day of the competition arrived. The Wheld Martial Grounds was converted into a battle arena type layout with a square battle stage in the middle and stands for the family members to sit and watch the young ones fight on the stage. All the Elders were already present in the arena and were seated on the stands prepared for them. A single seat was prepared at an elevated position above all others and this will be where the family head will be positioned.

The youngsters of the family were gathered in their respective groups around the battle stage, filled with excitement and restlessness, waiting for the battles to start, giving the arena a lively feel.

Azalon sat under a tree leaning his back against the trunk with a straw of grass between his lips. His eyes were half lidded as he lazily observed everything that's going on around him, especially a 15-year old boy on the middle of a group making wild gestures and loud boastings. A slight smile quirked up the corner of his mouth.

A 50-year old man in white robes walked into the grounds and the crowd's murmurs went silent as everyone's attention turned to that person.

“The family Head has arrived.” An Elder announced loudly as Erek Wheld slowly made his way to the highest seat in the stands. He didn't sit but stood there while his eyes roamed around the plaza looking at everyone.

With his white robes fluttering in the wind, his straight spear like posture as well his dignified aura along with his Cultivation level made him the idol of many of the youngsters in the family. Azalon felt that the Erek Wheld he was seeing right now is not the amiable and gentle grandfather of his, but a fierce and domineering leader of a family.

Erek Wheld was feeling great right now. Looking at the excited faces of the younger generation of his family, he unconsciously let out a satisfied smile on his face.

“Let the Competitions, Begin.” He didn't tarry much longer and immediately announced the start of the competition...