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Years Earlier

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The black-robed man with white smiling mask was walking down on the street filled with people. He walked on his own without any friends to accompany him and appeared to be quite lonely.

"Damn old hag!!"

When he heard that shout, he glanced at the source of the voice.

The source of the voice came from a small dark gang. His golden eyes watched how an old lady, dressed poorly, was being beaten up.

The old lady had just finished buying some vegetables and fruits and was about to return when she bumped into some teenagers or a group of bully.

"How are you going to pay for my clothes, huh?" One of the leader asked angrily, berating the old hag.

The white masked man assumed that this curly haired old lady must have bumped into the teenager and stained his cloths with his drink.

The poor old lady didn't seem to be that rich or wealthy. He could tell that just by the dress that she was wearing. And if she should be paying for the cloth that the teenager was wearing right now, then she will have to live on the street and beg for some food.

"....."

If it wasn't for the cloth she was wearing and her poor condition, he would have mistaken her for someone familiar, someone important for him who he won't meet again.

'Grandma has long died. She isn't her, she is just another stranger. I don't have to meddle with her business. If I am late, teacher will be annoyed.'

He walked away and ignored the poor old woman like other people, thinking that they had their own business and it was better for them to not meddle their own business.

The masked man was sure that those people, including himself were not deaf or blinds. They saw and heard it clearly that the old woman needed a help from someone and she was suffering right now, but all of them acted as if they were deaf and blind. It was quite cruel, but it was the reality.

No matter how loud the old woman shouted or how loud the teenagers bullied the old woman, no matter how hard she was beaten up or how cruel her misfortune was, no one will help her. It was because of her bad luck that she ended up in this kind of situation.

'Not everyone has the responsibility to be nice to you.'

But after taking a few steps, the man with white mask sighed.

He put one his hand on his waist and the other to scratch the back of his head.

"I'm really too nice for my own good" he muttered.

'Forget it. I'll just let him wait for another few minutes to annoy him.'

The white masked man appeared before one of the teenagers, pulled his hair and then smashed it to the ground.

"You-!"

He kicked another one to the wall until there was a crack on the wall. The teenager that found himself kicked away by the white masked man was unconscious immediately.

He looked at the rest and asked, "Do you want to continue?"

The teenagers shook their heads.

"Then go and bring your friends away" he ordered them in which they immediately obeyed.

"Y-yes sir!"

After he can't see their shadows anymore, the white masked man turned at the old woman. The old woman looked confused and dumbfounded. But strangely, there was no trace of fear on her.

'Maybe she's scared to the point that she can't show it properly. Forget it, I'll just help her and then quickly return.'

"....I'll help you" he said again and helped the old woman to collect all her vegetables and fruits.

"T-thank you" the old woman thanked her repeatedly. "Thank you."

"There is no need to thank me" he responded with a cold tone. "I'm doing this not because of you. I just found those brats annoying."

The old woman stopped thanking her and quietly gathered all her vegetables and fruits, putting it on a bag.

Out of sympathy, he chose to help her and voluntarily to escort her to go back to her home. Fortunately, her home wasn't that far.

Her home which he thought to be a decent but small building turned out to be a wooden hut. Outside of the hut, there were some clothes hanged and a blanket.

There weren't too much things inside the small hut. The hut where she lived on had kitchen, a bed, a small toilet and a table with three chairs and to say that the hut was clean, it wasn't really clean for he could spot some dusts and also some spider nets. In the kitchen, he also found some broken plates and glasses, couldn't be used anymore.

The pillow that was supposed to be used for

The roof of the hut wasn't that great either. There was a small hole on it. If the sky will rain, then what will happen to this small and shabby hut?

'How does she live in this place anyway?'

If he had to live in this kind of place, then he was unsure how long will he last.

"I must have make you laugh" the old woman said to him. "But this is all I had now."

Curious, he asked her, "What about your husband? You must have one right? Along with a child?

"Dead" the old woman answered, without slight hesitation or sadness on her tone. "He died because of illness while my child....died when he climbed this tower, leaving this old woman all alone in this lonely life."

"....Sorry" he apologized, even though he knew that he didn't sound like he was sorry at all.

"It's fine" the old woman responded. "I'm not the only one who lost my dearest one after all. There are even more pitiful people outside there. I might not be the worst."

"...."

The white masked man volunteered to help him fixing and cleaning his hut even though the old woman seemed to be quite embarrassed and uncomfortable to have a stranger young lad to help him. He fixed the roof, cleaned the hut and removed every spider net that he could find and everything. It took him some time for it but it didn't take that long since the hut wasn't that big.

"If my son is still alive, then he will probably as old as you" the old woman said.

"Is that so? I might be lots older or younger than you think" he replied. "What if I say that I am more than a hundred years old?"

"Then that must be my mistake, for you look so young for someone who lives more than a hundred years old."

He laughed a bit.

"Youngsters should have laughed more. In that way, they could at least be happy in this dangerous tower."

He thought that it might not be bad to live in such a place. To live in a small hut, spending days doing all the normal activities without being disturbed by any politics, Zahard or FUG sounded nice enough.

The old woman then stood up and leave to get him something. When she returned, she handed him a fan.

She handed him a simple, plain white fan.

When he first saw that fan, he felt the sense of familiarity. It was like he had ever seen this fan before. He looked back at the old woman, wondering what was her intention on showing him this fan.

"You....want to give this fan to me?"

"Consider this to thank you."

"You don't have to. I did all of these just because I want to."

"Whether it's because of personal amusement or not, you are still the one who help me. I don't have any children anymore, or relatives. This fan will be more useful for you."

The man tilted his head as he received the fan. When he made a contact with that fan, he felt that there was something with it.

'This fan is neither good-looking or beautiful and its very ordinary that it can't possibly worth anything. But why is that when I hold this fan.....it's.....very warm? Wait, how could a fan possibly give me warmth?'

"You said that this fan will be useful for me....how will it be useful for me?" he asked her.

"You will see it in the future" she replied. "That fan will surely help you. ."

At the time, Nox did not understand what the old woman meant. But since he felt that there was something special and interesting with this fan, he agreed with her words and immediately left. Of course, before he left, he gave her some money, saying to her that they were doing a business where she sold the fan to him and he had to pay some money for it. Even though he knew that he was suffering losses, he did it voluntarily and did not feel any regret at all.

Nox wouldn't lie that at the time, he did not believe that this fan would be his main weapon. The fan was indeed interesting, for it could help him killing enemies and it was hard to be broken. But at the end the fan was still an ordinary fan, it couldn't help him with anything.

But right now, the fan that suddenly glowed white and began to change its form into a sword and shielded her from White's attack. The sword that now appeared before her floated and she reached out her hand to hold that sword.

'At the time I thought that the old woman was just bluffing so that I will accept her fan. But turns out, she wasn't lying at all. This fan....turns into a sword?'

Charlotte observed her new sword. It was light, of course and she could hold the soft-green grip just with her right hand. The point appeared to be very sharp and pointy that it was made to hurt others and on the sword, right on the rain-guard, there seemed to be a word written on it.

星

'Star?'

"Now, listen to me well and follow my guidance" the pink haired lady with the familiar lotus forehead mark said towards her with a smirk. "I'm going to teach you the swordsmanship that I have learnt for years."

Charlotte didn't expect that the pink haired lady who usually appeared on her dreams will show herself right there and right now. She was flying on the shinsu behind her. But just like Noah, however, she was in a transparent form which made her wonder whether the others could see her or not.

"Swordsmanship?" She echoed.

"If you could learn this swordsmanship, then I could guarantee that you will be able to defeat the Arie before you" she added again. "But if you don't, then you and your friends will be buried here. I will only teach you once so you have to focus on it."

'...Did her fan had just transformed into a sword.....?' White thought. 'Does she seriously think that she could defeat me in swordsmanship? Is she nuts or what?'

He gripped on his sword tighter.

From the audiences' seat, the audiences were also confused. Altaira himself observed Charlotte who was looking to a direction with a dumbfounded expression as if she didn't expect that she will be able to have such an ability.

'From a girl who knows nothing about killing....earning such a precious treasure and possessing such a power.....Charlotte, you are a monster without a doubt' he thought.

Perhaps in the bottom of his heart he was also a bit jealous of her power. She was just a naive young girl who had no ambition, living in the tower that didn't suit her at all. Such a power and treasure lying on the hand of hers, wouldn't it be a waste?

"Alright, I think I understand how to use this sword" Charlotte said towards the purple haired lady. She turned around and looked at White. "Now, shall we continue this fight?"

White frowned even deeper than before.

"You seriously can't be thinking of defeating me with your lousy swordsmanship right?"

"I'd say that my swordsmanship is just right" she responded. "And this is my first time fighting using a sword. Don't be too harsh for me, alright?"

In another word, if he lost against her right here, then that means his thousand years of training swordsmanship can't be compared with the swordsmanship that she had just learnt and the swordsmanship that he had just called lousy.

'How dare you.'

The only way for White to win against Charlotte was to kill her right there and right now. In the terms of Dallar, she had more than him. In the terms of hostages, she saved everyone including his. To win, he could have just killed Miseng who was now in the submarine, but right now, he can't seem to think rationally thanks to her provocation.

'You always thought that you are a jinx, but perhaps, you are more gifted than me, little sister. You shine even brighter than me to the point that it makes me feel....... overshadowed.'

Their swords clashed with each other, each of them didn't show leniency or mercy. On above, White expressed his disbelief, wondering how Charlotte was able to compete with him in the terms of swordsmanship.

'The way she wields her sword is randomly. There is no exact pattern on the movements of her sword but each slash is stronger than mine and though there is no exact pattern, the pattern is exactly no pattern!' White thought.

Right now, Charlotte had temporarily open some of her chains which was the reason why she was stronger than White at the moment.

'Sometimes I wonder who you are actually, that your talent has always scared me. If it isn't for your childishness and laziness, then what is my worth?'

"THIS IS THE END!!" shouted the brown haired girl as she gathered all her strength to the sword and swung it to White.

'This one.... I couldn't block it!'

White who couldn't block her last attack was then blown away thanks to Charlotte's sword.

"YES!!" Boro happily shouted. "She did it!"

"Nox won!!"

"YEAH!!"

'Your existence scared me, but at the end, you are still my younger sister. You won't turn your back on me....right?'