- Blossoming Tree -

"Anan."

The little version of Khun Altaira Rain opened the door of the room. The luxurious and wide room that was made just for one person, with one huge bed for her to lie down and rest, a cupboard to keep all her medals and achievements, and many more.

But even though she had lived in luxury and with many achievements, she was still unsatisfied.

'She always wants to "fly as high as she can", that everything she has in the present seems to be not enough,' Altaira thought as he entered the room. His sister who had noticed him, didn't bother to say a word and continued to tend her wounds.

'That's why she never shed a tear or shouted whenever she is in pain. She believes that even though her body and flesh have been torn and wounded, it's simply a price that she should pay for a higher rank.'

Young Altaira was no longer afraid of blood or corpses. Gradually, dead bodies, organs, bloods, tortures, they were no longer scary. Was it because he was slowly losing his humanity or because he was already used with those sights?

In ease, he helped his sister to tend all her wounds.

"I see that you've learnt to adapt yourself with this cruel reality," she spoke suddenly.

"Is being the best truly matters for you? That you disregard your safety again and again and everything?"

Altaira noticed that Anan suddenly stopped. He felt uneasy and had a strong feeling that she was displeased. And when he gathered the courage just to look at her eyes, when he saw those unhappiness within her cold and predatory blue eyes, he was right.

Those blue eyes were beautiful and terrifying. It was hard to look on his own sister. The air of dominance that she had was colder than his father. Those eyes were definitely the scariest eyes he ever saw.

He was used seeing dying and dead people, but would never be used to see those eyes.

"Altaira."

She called his name and extended her hand. He tried not to close his eyes, as what his sister once said, never show his fear to anyone else. He took it and listened to it as a way to survive within the tower and right now, he was trying not to look away from her. He was trying to prove that he was not a coward. If he failed to prove himself to be courageous, not only he would humiliate himself and wound his own pride, but also, it will be a "shadow" that tainted his sister's glory.

He can't look away.

Her hand was warm, yet in the same time it was really cold. It was really hard to feel the warmness on her touch. She was just like a doll created with flesh and blood just to achieve glory and to suffer on the process.

And worse, she did these all willingly.

Unlike Charlotte whose hand was always warm, every single touch was harmless and affectionate, he felt that her hands were cold and could always take his life anytime and anywhere.

He could feel that her hand touched his head.

"These are for us."

Altaira slowly lowered his head. Now, it wasn't only because of fear that he lowered his head.

'We never asked you to bring so much glory for us. We never asked you to take all the pains for us. Is what lies on the throne so important for you? More than your own life?'

As cold as those hands were, those hands were the hands that kept protecting him, sheltering him.

He never wanted her to disappear. He just wished that she could stop for a moment to enjoy the moment of present before everything was too late.

'If she runs too fast, it would be harder for me to chase her.'

She was too selfish. In the same time, she was selfless. That was how he defined his older sister, someone whose mind was complicated yet simple.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Charlotte's sworn enemy was indeed a perfect opponent for Bam.

In order to hit her at least just once, he was slowly mastering how to wield orb and how to accurately attack his opponents with the orb. With his fast speed of learning, it was the matter of time for the sworn enemy to be hit once.

And right now, she was in a bad situation. Without the chance to get close to Bam, her head was bleeding and it pretty much disturbed her vision.

'Damn. He got me by luck.'

But she still persisted against the pain and she was still able to stand up.

'Two can use that movement,' she thought as she planned to use the orb as well until she felt danger.

The sworn enemy jumped away, dodging a white sword made out of shinsu that was aiming to cut her into half. She looked like she didn't expect this. At least, she never expected that someone who was far weaker than her attempting to wound her by pulling such a trick. And that person was precisely Noah.

'I never thought that there would be a day where I'll wield sword again.'

Whenever his hands were holding a sword, he always felt restless. Perhaps it was because his mother was murdered by a sword, and the person who murdered her had a very similar appearance with him when he would be years older. Chris was just like the adult version of him and the nightmares that were haunting him really didn't help.

But he wanted power. He needed power. He needed to use everything that he had in order to survive this battle. He wanted to live for another day.

Maybe the arrival of the sworn enemies were not simply to maintain balance. With the arrival of such a tough opponent, he learnt that he didn't have much choices in a war. It was either you break the chains of the past and survive with whatever you had, with whatever tricks you knew, or you die miserably. He wanted to live.

He wanted to survive.

Bam, on the other hand, felt surprised to see Noah wielding a sword.

'He could use a sword? I thought only Celeste could do it... since he never uses one.'

The sworn enemy looked at the two of them. She stood in the middle of the two of them and couldn't help but to think that she no longer should underestimate them. These two were getting more and more dangerous as the time passed.

'I must end this quickly!'

She would start by getting rid of the nearest and the weakest one. However, just as she was about to leapt towards him, green vines were wrapped around her wrists.

With shinsu, it was easy to destroy it. And taking the chance that she wasn't looking, Noah wielded his sword again towards her. Of course, with his power solely, there was no way for him to be able to win against Charlotte's sworn enemy.

'But with Bam's assistance, I have a chance to defeat her!'

The shinsu from the orb blocked all shinsu attacks that she had for him and with the green vines and chrysanthemum petals to restrict her movements, all she could do was to receive attacks. It was getting harder and harder to dodge the attacks when the two of them adapted rather quickly and was getting more and more harmonious with their attacks.

Her body was filled with scars and her head was bleeding because of the two of them. At this rate, she would really lose to the two of them. And losing means losing her life.

"You guys... ARE PISSING ME OFF!"

Noah could tell that the shinsu around the data was getting more fierce than before. The vines that were supposed to restrict her movements were destroyed by shinsu as she roared with anger. And as dangerous as it was getting, once his vines were destroyed, she immediately aimed for his life.

Noah prepared his sword to block her attack. But his sword was destroyed by one strike.

'What?!'

His surprised expression, he gritted his teeth while his purple eyes widened in disbelief. The pieces of the broken sword shattered on the air between the data that took Charlotte's appearance in her former life and him before gradually turning into dusts and disappearing on the air.

The two of them had purple eyes, even though his purple eyes were darker than hers. While his purple eyes were filled with surprise and shock, her eyes were filled with rage and anger. There was no mistake that she really wanted to take his life.

"NOAH!"

He could hear Bam was shouting for him worriedly.

Even if he used the thorn in attempt to save Noah, it was already too late. The speed of a regular who reached B- rank by pure strength was not to be underestimated and not to mention that right now, the sworn enemy was giving her all.

Strange. A data was also fighting hard for her survival. A machine couldn't have humans' emotions. But within those eyes, he saw the same emotions just like humans.

After breaking his sword, her right hand stabbed him right on his chest mercilessly.

Blood fell on the ground within the silence.

She was so fast. The fact that Charlotte's sworn enemy was faster than him and stronger than him reminded him how weaker he had gotten, how fragile he had become. He had always been the one who protected the others, but now, he actually needed the others to protect him.

And those eyes, there was just a strange feeling rising inside him whenever he saw those eyes looking at him with rage and anger. It was as if he had wronged her or done something unforgivable to her. Those eyes reminded him of one of his many nightmares, the one where he was worried that Charlotte might hate him for bringing her into this tower just to suffer.

The face of someone who he could only see from afar.....

He knew why Charlotte sometimes thought that she didn't deserve to be loved by others. It was because even though she knew that some of her friends would die, for the sake of "future" and because of her fear that the future she knew would change, she allowed them to die. She rarely showed those feelings in front of the others, making the others misunderstood that she was a free girl without any worries.

But who in this world could live without worries?

Even the one who sat on the bloody throne had experienced "worry" and "fear" several times.

Whenever he was with her, there was a strange feeling telling him that the two of them were actually the same. Just like how she was regretful of sending her teammates to death, he was also regretful for bringing her inside the tower.

And now, he had to hurt her. He knew that this person was not her. She was not her. She was simply a data generated with the same face with her.

She wasn't the petite girl. She wasn't Xi (hope).

His bigger hands held her small arm that wounded his chest.

"You're not her... you are simply everything that she wants to hide."

The sworn enemy couldn't understand what the dying man was speaking, what he was doing.

"If she wants you to disappear, then I'll make you disappear."

[Gardenia Style- Blossoming Tree]

Behind the two of them, a large and glowing purple circle appeared. In the middle of the circle, there was the large chrysanthemum flower. And outside the circle which had a chrysanthemum flower drawn on it, there were some foreign words that he could not understand.

Bam was surprised to see it. To create something like, he was sure that Noah must have needed some time to prepare this large circle that kept rotating around. The larger circle and the circle which has the chrysanthemum flower drawn within it were rotating on the opposite direction.

[Noah's style- Chrysanthemum Boost]

The Chrysanthemum petals gathered on his right hands as he hit her and pushed her away towards the circle.

"What?!"

She gritted her teeth and didn't expect that coming.

He pushed her hard enough as he put all his strength to his right hand and when she reached the center of the large circle, purple petals of chrysanthemum appeared from the circle like a whirlwind surrounding her.

The petals then wrapped her four limbs. Even though they were just petals, the sworn enemy felt that she has been chained. The petals were very heavy, heavy enough that she found it hard to move her hands.

'No.....'

She was trembling.

'I don't want to lose.'

She gritted her teeth.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!"

The shinsu around her was getting crazier and crazier, trying to destroy the circle beneath her. And the crazier she became, the stronger the chrysanthemum petals that were swirling around the circle became.

Noah coughed blood and used his right hand to cover it. His skin was already pale from fatigue, but he persisted.

'Just last for a few more minutes. Don't collapse now.'

"There is no way for you to run now!"

[Noah Style- Vines of Punishment]

Large vines grew from the ground and tied her arms and legs further. They completely had her tied and bounded on the ground before wrapping her up.

"These vines work differently from the others. They may not be useful for attacking, but they are useful in binding people. Someone who I knew once bounded me with similar techniques and trust me, they are troublesome," he explained to tell her that there was no use struggling.

Of course, when it came to someone who was stronger than him in the terms of strength, then breaking this formation was just the matter of time. But after being wounded again and again, the chances of her winning was getting low. She was already wounded and her mind was in chaos, it would be only the matter of time for her getting sealed.

And besides, since the [Vines of Punishment] were made to chain someone, they weren't that easy to break.

"Let.......me.... GO! YOU BASTARD! LET GO OF ME! HAAHH!!"

She kept shouting until the vines covered her mouth on purpose. At the first glance, it looked like she was covered with green vines. But the green vines then changed into heavy and metallic chains that were restraining her.

Outside the circle, Bam felt his heart ache.

She was really struggling to survive. She was really struggling to break the chains that were binding her. The will of survive was reflected clearly on her eyes and with her face, it looked like she was fighting and struggling against fate to live for another day. Yet just because they were enemies, he had no other choice but to send her away like this.

The purple chrysanthemum petals that were circling around the air finally covered her completely.

Khun Edahn watched everything from his island while drinking his liquor and eating his grapes. When he saw a large tree growing from the battlefield with falling purple chrysanthemum petals, he couldn't help but to be awed by the beauty of the nature.

'That sure is a beautiful.'

Noah huffed and huffed. He could feel that everything was getting hazy and his legs were getting weaker. Bam, with the help of his thorn, rushed towards him and caught him before he fell to the ground.

"Noah!"

Noah glanced at him weakly. The pain in his chest was unbearable. Now that the enemy was gone now, sealed under the tree, he wished to be able to rest as soon as possible. But he knew that if he rested here, then he would really be resting forever.

He can't do that... not when he had so many things to do.

"... Xi...." He whispered her name.

"Do you mean Charlotte?"

It was so hard to even nod his head. At the end, all he could say or to be more specific, whisper, was just a few words.

"I don't want to die...."

Bam summoned the [Blue Oar] and immediately went to see Charlotte. He had to be quick otherwise, they would be losing one of their precious friends. And while Bam was taking him to see Charlotte, he was thinking about something else instead.

'Would she be happy to know that I've helped her defeating her shadow?'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Khun wondered whether the data of his father had a grudge with him or something, putting him together with the crocodile who he couldn't work together with and against a tough sworn enemy, Jue Viole Grace.

He could never forget the slayer candidates who FUG created out of their selfish desires. The shadow of Bam and Charlotte were Jue Viole Grace and Nox.

And now, one of them was standing before him. And he was all alone, with the crocodile who he thought that he can't rely on and his lighthouses.

When Jue Viole Grace sensed something moving on the sky, he saw his sworn enemy was moving within the air in fast speed and with an anxious expression, carrying someone who was in the brink of death.

His eyes grew colder when he saw Bam.

'Where you are running again this time? Haven't you run around enough?'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

A green vine appeared from the ground and caught Altaira's waist, pulling him backward to where it came from.

The sudden appearance of the green vine that affected how the battle should have ended surprised the siblings. And outside there, the culprit was glaring at them, no, glaring towards Altaira with an angry expression. Kiseia on the corner just stood there and watched how things unfolded with the expression saying that this was not her business and she was not involved.

"Charlotte?! Who told you to interfere?!"

"Don't you tell me what I should do! I should have been asking you instead? Why the hell are you sitting on the ground and looking that miserable?! If brother knows about this--!"

"I'm your brother!"

"The other one! The other one!"

"That two- faced bastard?!"

'Is this a kindergarten?' Anan and Kiseia wondered to themselves.

"HE'S NOT SUCH A PERSON!"

"OF COURSE, YOU KHUN'S SIMP!"

'Simp?!'

"WHAT THE--?! HOW COULD YOU CALL ME LIKE THAT, CELESTE'S SIMP?!"

'Celeste?' Anan began to feel curious of this person.

"AND WHAT ABOUT THAT?!"

"WHAT ABOUT THAT?! DO YOU WANT TO DIE RIGHT HERE AND LEAVE CELESTE AS A WIDOW?! SHE'S STILL WAITING FOR YOU TO COME BACK AND HERE YOU ARE PLAYING SOME SORT OF DRAMA AS IF YOU ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER!" Charlotte shouted. "Wake up, damn it! It's more than enough we have me as the idiot in the group! You shouldn't be the one as well! IT'S NOT THAT YOU ARE WEAK, BUT YOU ARE DISTRACTED!"

Altaira blinked in surprise.

Outside the barrier, Charlotte coughed and coughed. Shouting was really an exhausting activity that her throat felt uncomfortable.

"Are you going to shout again?" Kiseia asked.

"If that dimwit doesn't understand, then of course!"

"Stupid. As if some noises and words could change that nature of his."

"It's not like you understand him as well as I do anyway, so be quiet. Sister knows her brother the best!" She declared.

Kiseia did not believe her words. After all, if sister truly understood her brother the best, then what about at that time?

'Why all his movements when he fought against me were all different than what I expected? He is still the same... yet in the same time... he has changed.'

Anan stomped the ground. Her blue electricity destroyed the green vine that had saved her little brother and gained their attentions. The two of them could tell that she was unhappy right now.

"Disrespectful," Anan spoke. "I never taught you to ignore your opponents in a battlefield. It doesn't only mean that you underestimate them, but you also disrespect those who risked their lives in the front lines."