Chapter 274 (2/2)

Drak gave him a sour look. “Yes, although I should have just had you do it. When it comes to Azriel Blanche… I will not allow anything to keep me from my goal. The Ghosthound struggled through his qualifier, then endured through the preliminaries, then lost to Bertarn, then beat Bertarn, then beat Ciel in a direct contest of strength. All the while… as a member of the Spear Phantom Style.”

They both fell silent for a while. They were both familiar with the public story, but also with the less savory version that spread among the upper tiered Styles in the North.

“Do you think…?” Liam asked slowly, unsure of what he wanted his master to say. Desperately, Liam wanted to deny it, but… it was compelling evidence… no one improves that fast, no matter who their teachers are.

“Who can say…. But I do need power.” Drak’s eyes were determined.

“But the Aether Starvation-”

“Can be staved off somewhat. Until the tournament… I will go into meditation. Do not disturb me for any reason. Even if Azriel comes to reconsider my offer…”

Liam blinked, then he bowed. “For the glory of the Breaking Dawn, Sir.”

“Ha!” Drak said, as he slowly walked towards the door. “I haven’t heard that in a while… but yes. For the glory of the Breaking Dawn.”

****

“What are you going to do after the tournament?” The male spear attendant asked Helen, in one of the breaks of their own training. There was only 1 day remaining until the match between The Ghosthound and Drak, and Helen was ready to rip her hair out.

What was worse was that the Ghosthound seemed to spend every moment with Azriel, sparring repeatedly. In her heart, Helen prayed and prayed that Shal got off his fucking ass and woke the fuck up, just so she would have an excuse to go and interrupt their extended training session, but that didn’t seem likely. So she could only beat up on the male spear attendant.

He, annoyingly, seemed to enjoy the spars too, and to his credit was constantly refining his image of his Iron Bulwark, becoming increasingly durable and strong. Unfortunately for him, his stiff defense could do little against Helen’s twisting and flowing attacks, especially as her growth was fueled by the constant pulse of fresh Aether in her veins.

Helen shivered. God, it felt so good. It was a chance to become truly great, and the Ghosthound had given it to her. Inwardly, she was torn between waiting to follow him around and show off her strength, and murder him to prove she could be independent.

But the male spear attendant's question stopped her dead. Because… in a way it was everything that she had been dreading. This past few months… had been ones of constant change. The impulse to go for the qualifier, seeing the Ghosthound there, winning. Becoming his spear attendant….

Training with him… breaking him out of prison…

Their…. Night……

She could fuck him to death, Helen decided. That would be the way she murdered him for making her feel like this, when she swore for so long she would never let exactly this happen.

But in her heart… she knew that he was leaving after the tournament. Either to train for the Inter-School Tournament, or to the frontlines, or…. anywhere basically. If it was him… if it was him…

“I…. don’t know. Do you?” Her own hesitation made her want to eat the entire shaft of her spear, but it was the male spear attendant. They had seen each other at their worst, and spent a lot of time together. If nothing else, he was someone she could easily kill if he were to threaten to reveal her secret.

“...Yes… I think I’m going to enlist. Hopefully not to the frontlines, but… some of the border areas, where there are occasional skirmishes. After spending time with the Ghosthound… it makes you realize you can’t get anywhere if you don’t grab something, you know? And after I have gloriously defeated the enemies in the area and received promotion after promotion… kukuku….”

Helen rolled her eyes, but her tongue got extremely heavy, so much so that even the male spear attendant seemed to notice, turning to regard her with shock that she hadn’t ripped him to pieces. Yet still she said nothing, but tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.

Because what she wanted to say to the male spear attendant, was “Don’t die.”

But she couldn’t, because that would open up all of her roiling emotions. And she would run and run and break down the door and run up to the Ghosthound and say, “Don’t leave,” because all of her emotions were tied up together, bound to this short span of time in her life where she had grown and changed more than she could have ever expected.

And it was ending.

‘Don’t….’ Helen thought, the tears washing away her composure, her hardened bitterness after years of suffering under her mother’s tongue and expectations. ‘Please….’

The night passed in silence above them, rushing forward heedlessly.