After this weird dream, Teras decided to go outside so he can refresh his mind, maybe all this training back then messed up his mind, that's what Teras thought while grabbing the closest sword to him
The town was quiet and empty, it was quite unusual setting for a crowded city such as this and Teras felt a bit uncomfortable walking around but still did, he walked far away from the mansion, he was in a certain place of the town where everything looked more rural
Suddenly he saw a dark figure watching him from the corner of a house
"Who are you?" Teras asked loudly, the figure quickly disappeared "What is wrong with me? Strange dreams and now hallucinating?" Teras asked himself as he sat on his iconic bench
"What are you doing out this late? Didn't you hear about the lockdown? Anyway there's anything we can do now, have you seen anyone suspicious roam the streets?" A guard asked him out of nowhere
Teras was startled, he didn't realize someone was behind him
"Uhm... I haven't been in town for hours now so no, I haven't heard about the lockdown. I also haven't seen anyone, why do you ask?" Teras asked confused, hiding the fact that he saw the dark figure
"You see one the prisoners escaped the prison once again. She is an assassin and a former pupil of Tokkou so she's very dangerous, I suggest you immediately go back to your house as soon as you can, you see even for us it isn't safe" The guard said as he began to jog away from Teras, he continued his search for the escapist
Teras also began to feel weird while looking around the roof of the houses' around him, he heard something slicing the air. He was uncertain on what it was but after what the guard told him Teras was sure it wasn't wise to stay outside so he started taking the route to the mansion, that's when he felt it
He felt a bloodthirst so strong that with no hesitation he gripped his sword and slashed behind, surprisingly Clair was behind him and barely dodged that attack
Clair was the prisoner Teras talked with before finding Tokkou
"Promising... Are you Tokkou's new puppet? I should have realized, the way you defended him was way too unordinary" Clair said as she stared down Teras
"What are you doing?" He asked confused and scared
"Me? I got bored rotting in jail so I decided to escape, and remember? I told you you would be the first person to die by my hand?" Clair said as she pointed at Teras
"You were Tokkou's student, right?"
"What if I was?" Clair asked Teras with a disgusted expression, maybe because of what he heard
"You fought to save lives, correct? Why are you so okay with taking them now?" Teras asked confused as he took slow and steady steps back
"Why? I'm long gone kid, after the incident with Tokkou I went on a rampage, you see my parents were part of the protest, I saw it with my own eyes, they were stomped to death by the people they fought for, all because of their fear of the "Grand" Jack, isn't that ironic? The person that's supposed to save people killed so many innocent people back then, that's when I realized I was in the wrong side of history, and in a flash I killed them all, I killed all the guards chasing after the people, I also tried to kill the person I valued the most back then, my "teacher" who saved me from a life of prostitution and misery..." Clair explained to Teras as she started to twitch and rumble
It was clear that she has lost her will a long time ago
"I know that my words won't mean anything to you but I'm sure Tokkou didn't mean to kill anyone, he just isn't-" Teras said trying to excuse Tokkou's past actions but something made him stop
'Why am I even defending him?' He thought confused as if what he was doing was meant to happen
"You see it too, huh? An arena for "irredeemable" people to fight? Following the king's order? Isn't that just too heartless?" Clair said as she slowly approached Teras
"It is... But is that all to the story?" Teras asked confused as he looked into Clair's soulless eyes
"What?" She mumbled. She then laughed "You killed Potinko so you are keener than you look... I forgot that... I guess you are right, let's say I didn't stop there... Let's say I was given a second chance and used it to slaughter a village, the village my parent's were from, the village that openly bullied them for their beliefs, and let's also say I enjoyed every bit of it. Does that make me the villain? Should the world really be this forgiving toward hateful people?"
Teras took some steps back before responding "What about me? Am I a villain?"
"You? No you are just odd, my conscious is telling me you should die, does that make sense? By the way how did you even kill Potinko, I can tell you are a beginner at using mana, were you a fighter in your past life?" Clair asked sarcastically
"There is no such thing as reincarnation..." Teras said but deep inside he felt kind of weird
Memories of him running away came to his mind, he doesn't remember what was chasing him but he knew that a beam of light penetrated his chest and made him fall over a cliff
'I should have totally died there, if what I saw wasn't a dream then her theory could not be so off the mark...' Teras thought but immediately denied it in his head 'People can't return from the grave...' He thought as he took some steps back hoping he could make it out of here
"Oh no no! Now you can't leave! You will definitely snitch to a guard if you do!" Clair said with a big smile while approaching Teras with a dagger that clearly didn't belong to her
'RUN' His subconscious said so Teras started his mana flow and gave it all to run away
"Haha! This will be fun!" Clair said as he ran after him
Thanks to the city's structure Teras quickly hid in between buildings as he kept on running
Suddenly Clair appeared in front of him
"BOO!" She said as she charged at Teras trying to cut him down
Teras used his sword to deflect the attack and he then also grabbed Clair's coat and threw her over him, after doing that Teras continued running
"Oh my! You are really interesting prey Teras!" Clair said as she quickly recovered
Clair threw a dagger of hers at Teras but right before contact Teras turned around and deflected the dagger with his sword
Teras then reached a dead end with the only way to go is to jump off a relatively high cliff, under the cliff rested houses and another road that lead to the mansion so with no seconds to spare Teras clenched his teeth and jumped off
Before hitting the ground he enhanced his legs with as much mana as he could
'It strengthens the body, he said but it hurts as hell!' Teras thought his legs were shaking like a strong earthquake. Teras had no time to spare so he continue to run toward the mansion
But what he failed to do was to see that Clair was running on the side of the wall next to him, like a spider or some other kind of bug. By the time he noticed Clair already had charged at him, kicking him and sending him meters away
Teras went into a restaurant from the window and exited it by using the other window on the other side of the restaurant, well it was not like he could control it, he simply flew uncontrollably from the attack, some of his ribs were broken and he also spat blood
If things weren't bad enough, Clair was waiting for Teras on the other side of the building to slice him up
'How fast is she?' Teras thought as his body flew toward her
But before he was sliced Teras thought of something, it was like his life flashed before his eyes but since he didn't have many memories moments he spend with Tokkou were all he could see
'I won't see the brightest star in the night sky if I die now, will I?' Teras thought before opening his eyes
Then to everyone's surprise Teras rotated his body in the air, dodging Clair's attack and also slicing her right cheek
"What..." She mumbled as she saw Teras move like that
Teras then stood up and continued running as fast as he could
'If I drive her close to the mansion maybe Tokkou could deal with her!' Teras thought as he didn't look back
It was the final street before Teras could reach the mansion but Clair was blocking it, she was much faster than Teras so she easily outran him
"You claim that Tokkou is some kind of villain while you killed hundred of innocent people, I really can't understand the way you think!" Teras said as he got ready to give his all
Clair smiled diabolically
"It is my first time feeling this way though..." She said as saliva was running down her mouth
She looked just like an animal with rabies, but someone would argue than even such animal wouldn't been that aggressive by choice or not
Teras charged at her with all of his might, but Clair spared him the time by dashing at him herself, her dagger and Teras's sword clashed, and the result? Teras's sword was broken
Since he didn't took the sword Tokkou gave him before exiting the house, he took one of the many the room had
"Oh, your face is priceless!" Clair said as she laughed hysterically
Teras released the broken sword and attacked Clair, Teras still had a glimpse of hope
Teras punched and kicked Clair but he didn't do so much damage, in fact, Clair didn't defend, she didn't see Teras's attacks as a threat
"It's over kid!" Clair said as he caught one of Teras's kicks that was aimed at her head, she then was about to cut Teras's leg off
At this moment everything froze, it was simply Clair and Teras and an infinite white void, the only thing Teras saw was death...
"IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Teras screamed with D E T E R M I N A T I O N as he poured as much mana as he could into his fist, he then punched Clair's face sending her meters away, her nose also started to bleed
'I could see that coming so why didn't I dodge that?' Clair thought
The answer was simple...
For a fraction of second the roles between hunter and hunted changed making Clair feel powerless in front of Teras
Teras then started running as he held his damaged hand with his other hand
This attack made Teras's knuckles crack since the large amount of mana he put into the attack was purely for attack and not defending. While running Teras kept screaming for Tokkou, but nobody responded, he yelled again and again before reaching the door of the mansion, he banged at it maniacally
Thankfully for him Becka was there to open the door
"Why the hell are you banging so loud for?" Becka asked, she had her pajamas on
Teras didn't say a word, he quickly got in, closed the door, and hugged Becka
"W-W-What are you doing?" Becka asked confused and embarrassed
"Don't let her get in..." Teras said with shock
'He is trembling...' Becka was confused as to why he is this shocked but she didn't ask anything, she simply took Teras to the cooking room and made him something to feast, it was eggs with pork chops
"What were you doing outside?" Becka asked as she served the plate to Teras
"A former student of Tokkou... She escaped prison and tried to kill me, I barely got away from her this time, but if there's ever a next time then I will be slaughtered!" Teras said calmly as he ate his eggs
"I see, I'm sorry you had to experience that, Tokk- I mean master is not aware of the escapist but sadly he can't deal with this now since he has some important work to do..." Becka said as she yawned, she still hadn't fully woken up
"Are you serious? We are talking about a murderer here, what if she starts killing random people?" Teras said as he got up
"I assure you this won't happen, Clair was anything but an idiot, she will probably try to escape after some days pass, making people think she fled is probably the best she can do now with all the guards patrolling the area" Becka explained to Teras who was conflicted about all that was happening
Suddenly he got right in front of Becka and said "Please make me stronger Miss Becka! I can't possibly leave this mansion when someone this much stronger than me is hunting me, plus I don't know how many crazy people like her walk this earth so I need help! Help me be strong enough to survive!" Teras said as he bowed his head to Becka
Becka simply smiled
"You don't have to worry kid, I will grant you strength!"
Becka said with an excited expression on her face...