Scene 4 - Brother!

She didn’t wish for Jao to die! She didn’t want to feel powerless again! Eyes dyed with madness a sudden release happened in her meridian as it began to expand in size making her break into a smile. A breakthrough had occurred vaulting her into the 4th stage of HBR!

Yelling at the top of her lungs, she slashed Solitude with all her power. Backed with the monstrous weight of one hundred thousand pounds, unrestrained horizontally with unimaginable power, she swung!

She yelled out, before unleashing hell, “How dare you try to hurt Jao! DIE!”

The power of her sword carried her intent to kill, making glass walls explode in a thunderous boom. Glass shards flew by with blinding speed, piercing forwards unhindered. Lizardmen chunks were blown away with many tiny and large holes, showing all over their bodies. Even the ones that had had the same idea of jumping into the air to attack, had been skewered alive and were blasted away, turning into meat pancakes on the walls!

The one lording over Jao didn’t fare much better, as both halves were blasted away, spattering into the wall with unmeasured force. As the attack settled, blood and the glass shards could be heard falling down like large raindrops in the room. A colorful rainbow of blood came about.

Everything had suddenly gone silent.

Nena broke the silence with her trembling words, “Are you… Ok, Jao?”

Jao didn’t move which terrified Nena she didn’t want to be alone! What she didn’t know was… Jao almost pissed himself from coming close to dying to the Lizardman! Then after hearing that terrifying blast afterward from Nena sword strike, it had actually directly knocked him out!

Nena ran over, putting Jao’s head in her lap since she couldn't carry him well. She was weak after all. Even if she could use a one hundred thousand-pound greatswords, the blade only allowed her to wield it.

Then a thought came to her. He must have passed out since he’s still breathing! From the shock of the wound, she guessed. Rummaging in her backpack, she pulled out a tier two potion and poured it on the wound after locating it on his shoulder. The pain instantly awoke Jao, as he yelled from the sizzling pain that came from his wound. He even tried to get up but was surprisingly pushed down by Nena’s small strength.

Nena breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness you're alright! I was worried you died! Don’t move Jao, you’re injured!”

Jao was confused, trying to get his thoughts straight. The potion was not in the slightest bit hurting him now; in fact, the wound felt cool and soothing.

“... I lived?”

He laughed. Jao laughed as the thought entered his mind. As if he heard a funny joke, his eyes wandered around at the massacre that Nena had brought upon the Lizardmen.

‘What a monstrous little girl… Good thing she’s on my side!’ thought Jao as he sat up, despite Nena’s protests.

Nena was about to speak when Jao held out his hand. He got on his knees without a word and bowed toward Nena, “Thank you for saving me, Nena! I owe you my life!”

Confused, Nena tilted her head, “Didn’t you save me already Jao? By pushing me out of the way, right? So raise your head! A man’s knees are his gold and pride! So don’t casually throw them away!”

Jao raised his head, staring at Nena in shock. How old was this little girl again? Not even the age of eleven and still she had such a commanding tone!

Grinning, Nena reached out her hand towards Jao, “You said it yourself. We’re partners! So we’re equal! Now... Let’s get out of here; the stench of blood is getting worse than the smell of the slums…”

Grabbing her small hand, Jao had a sudden thought, ‘I feel... Like I should follow this little girl... No! It’s too early for that, as I’ve finally earned my freedom! I shall wait and see before making my decision!’

He exclaimed, “Alright let's go, partner!”

Collecting the forty odd talismans and splitting them evenly, the two quickly made it out of the room and started walking. The two decided to search for a safe room located on the compass found a safe about a half hour away. Luckily the two didn't run into any other monsters or contestants on the way here.

Checking regularly on their compasses, they noticed that someone was inside the room, currently not moving. Nena and Jao hesitated to enter seeing that there was a figure inside.

Nena turned to Jao, "We going inside?"

Jao nodded in response, "Let's go in. Since it's a safe room we won't have to fight and we can heal back to top shape and fight off the other contestant if they wanna start something."

"Sounds good", Readying their weapons, the two entered the room ready to fight. Despite exhausting most of his mana and his heavily injured, Jao could still put up a fight.

Turning the corner, instantly Nena recognized who the person was how could she forget that messy hair. Even in this sorry state with wounds covering all over his body that figure couldn't be forgotten.

Nena ran forward without another thought startling Jao, “Ren? What happened?”

Jao was about to stop her from moving forward until he heard her words. He lowered his guard a little, but was still a little wary. Ren looked up and smiled bitterly, “It’s a long story, sit down little sister. By the way who’s your friend next to you?”

Nena gave a charming smile to her brother, “This is Jao! He’s my partner!”