[01:40 PM]

The sound of wooden swords clashing against each other echoed inside the training room of the Waterflow Training Facility.

I have continued to spar with Zaiden and managed to beat the shit out of him three times.

It was now our fourth spar, and I planned to lose this one. So, when he attacked my opening, I pretended to get hit badly and launched myself back.

"Agh!" I faked a pained shout as I let go of my wooden sword.

"Haa.. Haa.. I won this time." Zaiden declared as he put his wooden sword against my neck. His breathing was rough; he was exhausted.

He had a satisfied smile that was somehow irritating. Did I do wrong by faking my defeat? I should've just beat the shit out of him again. However, it was necessary. So I guess I would allow him this time only.

'He won't be able to smile for a while after the second arc, after all.' I thought as I picked my body up.

"Yeah, good job. You won once after being beaten up by a Non-Awakener three times." I smirked as I brushed the dust off my clothes.

Smith approached us from the side with a satisfied grin. His lips split his face from ear to ear, seemingly happy because I beat Zaiden roughly three times.

"You're done?" He asked as he adjusted his expression.

"Yeah," I answered and turned to him. "Master, may I go home after this? I am exhausted from the spar already." I said.

"Hmm. Fine. But stay here for a minute. I have something to give you." He then turned to Zaiden. "Also, you." He pointed at him.

"Yes?" Zaiden answered. He managed to catch his breath and looked at Smith rather calmly.

"You go home for now. Ask Zayn to train you further with that footwork of yours. You are so sloppy." Smith scoffed, then swore under his breath. "That fucking guy."

"Umm, yes. I will train harder from now on to defeat Vincent on even ground." Zaiden replied honestly and smiled.

"Do what you do." Smith brushed his answer and waved his hand, gesturing for Zaiden to get away.

Zaiden smiled wryly and put the wooden sword he used back in its place. He then left the training center after giving the word to Smith.

Now, it was only the two of us. Smith suddenly changed his expression into a big grin and burst into laughter.

"Buahahahaha! You really beat the shit out of him. Look at his clothes and body. It was full of bruises!"

Unlike when Zaiden was here, Smith showed his real nasty personality that didn't fit the title of Sword Saint. He was just a grumpy old man who managed to be the strongest swordsman ever.

"However, you still hide the fact that you are an Awakener from him? Why?" He asked.

"It's not the time yet," I answered. "He has yet to suffer from anything. He would depend on me if he got a reliable ally right now."

I walked to the side of the training room and put the wooden sword that I used earlier in its place before turning to Smith.

"So I will continue to act as Rai for now."

"Tsk!" He clicked his tongue. "I never know what your plan is. But I am satisfied by seeing that fucker's son be beaten up by my disciple. You are really fucking similar to that bastard, the owner of the pawn shop."

The owner of the pawn shop? Was he talking about Park Injun?

He must be. Both of them had some relationship in the past. It was not strange that they were still talking to each other until today.

"And that bastard said I was similar to you. In terms of my personality." I approached Smith and stopped in front of him.

He was really uncomfortable when I told him that Park Injun said I was similar to him. But that wasn't important right now.

"So, Master. Why did you ask me to stay?" I asked.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot." He said, looking at me straight in my eyes as he crossed his arms. "It's time for you to learn about the Waterflow Technique." He grinned.

My eyes widened, and my heart was thumping out with excitement.

'Fucking finally!' I screamed inside my mind.

After dedicating my time to training for three days, he was finally going to teach me some techniques.

"Really, Master?"

"Yes. Seeing what you did earlier, I realized that you are ready to receive the training. Your body has gotten used to the essence of my technique. You can swing your sword without stopping." He explained.

I see. I thought of something like that when I heard him explain the essence of his technique to me.

That was why he asked me to swing my sword when I first entered the training facility and gave me that ridiculous training menu where I needed to swing [Brahmastra] more than 1000 times a day.

All of that was to make my body accustomed to swinging the sword without stopping.

"Understandable, Master. So, what's the first technique that you will teach me?" I asked excitedly.

With the technique taught by Smith, I would definitely be able to get stronger faster than now.

Having a strong technique as my trump card would also be useful in a critical situation.

"I will tell you tomorrow. So, don't do any training in the morning. Your body will be too exhausted and won't be able to follow my example tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Good. Now, go back and rest. Come back at the same time tomorrow."

"Then, I will take my leave, Master!" I said as I stormed inside the changing room.

'I wonder what kind of technique he will teach me? The first move? Or the second move? I can't wait to use that technique.' I thought as I changed my clothes.

***

[02:10 PM]

[House]

After being chased away by Smith, I returned home. As he had said, I needed rest to train the technique tomorrow.

When I arrived home, I did the usual greeting and heard that the TV was turned on. The one who watched TV at this time was only Tina.

And I was right. When I entered the living room, Tina was sitting on the couch, watching the news on TV.

"You have woken up, Tina," I called out from behind and approached her, leaning my hands against the couch's backrest right beside Tina.

"Hmm? Yes. I sleep for like, 7 hours? Yeah, I really need those." She answered me rather groggily. Her eyes were planted on the news, and I looked at the TV to see what the news was.

To my surprise, the news was about the strange activity in the Mermen Dungeon in San Diego. The monsters ran amok and tried to leave the dungeon.

historical

As for now, the Awakener from the Association had taken care of the monsters. I recognized one of the Awakeners from the Association as Frank, the one who stopped me when I was about to leave with Chloe in New York.

I narrowed my eyes and asked Tina.

"What actually happened?"

"The Demon. They have made their move."

"This fast?" I turned to her and frowned.

"Yes," Tina answered as she put on a serious expression. "The Demon in the Academy seems to have found something. He relayed the message to the one in San Diego and left yesterday. So I aborted the mission and told Pops about it, and he gave me his answer just after I woke up earlier."

Tina took a piece of paper from her pocket and gave it to me. I was a bit disappointed because she told the Darkest Secret about the Demon in the Academy, but it couldn't be helped. I appreciated his help and swallowed my disappointment against Tina.

I took the paper given by Tina and read the content. My eyes widened as I read what was written on it one by one.

"Are you sure?" I asked Tina, to which she answered with a simple nod.

She bit her lips in frustration and said. "Hey, shitty brother. Is there anything you can do? It.. frustrated me to get that information from pops."

"I will try," I answered as I burned the paper in my hand with Fire Magic.

Chloe shouldn't know this information. We couldn't tell her about this.

"My mask," I said as I extended my hand to Tina.

She quietly took it out from her magic bag and gave my [Mask of Deceit] back, and I wore it without any question. I turned my face and voice to match Rai and then took out [Stealth Coat +2] and wore it.

It fit me perfectly, and I slicked my hair back and wore [Horus' Sunglasses]. It was time for me to move as Rai.

The plan was a bit different due to the information given by the Darkest Secret, but I couldn't afford to think about Zaiden for now.

'If I let this go, not only will Zaiden die and fail to save the world, there is a chance I will be in danger too. However, this is also a perfect chance to show that fucker how this world work.'

"I will be gone for a day. Don't watch any TV." I said as I walked away.

When I was about to leave the house, Tina suddenly jumped from the couch and shouted.

"What are you going to do, shitty brother!" Her voice sounded desperate.

I turned around and saw tears built up in the corner of her eyes.

"Nothing. Just the obvious thing to do." I answered and left the house. The information from the Darkest Secret hit her worse than I.

It was natural, considering how this wrecked world that I created worked. Nothing would go according to the protagonist's plan.

'This shit. He fucking makes trouble again.' I jumped onto the roof and made my way toward Zaiden's house. I used the stealth effect of the [Stealth Coat] to hide myself from the other's eyes.

According to the information collected by Tina, the Demon found someone that they thought to be a Demon King's vessel. She heard the Demon contact the other Demon about it.

And not to my surprise, that someone they found was Lily.

How? Why did the Demon think Lily was the Demon King's vessel? That girl wasn't an Awakener yet. Was there some key that I missed?

As I jumped around the building, I noticed something.

'The key!'

I now understood. Someone had told the Demons that Lily was the Demon King's vessel, while she was actually not. Lily was the perfect vessel for the witch, Bathory. From that, I could assume that someone who told, or rather lied, to the Demons was a Witch.

And now, the second arc has been messed up by the intervention of the Witch. There was supposed to be only a Demon, but I confirmed three Demons in just a few days.

Furthermore, according to the Darkest Secret, those Demons planned to create a monster outbreak in two days.

'Fucker! I will bring you with me to see what you have done. The arc happened three weeks faster than it should be!'

After jumping for a while, I arrived at Zaiden's house. I knew his room, so I climbed onto the second floor from the roof and stood in front of the window of his room.

Inside, Zaiden was lying on the bed, reading a Basic Magic book. He was wearing a gray tracksuit and track pants. Knowing he was inside, I destroyed the window and entered by jumping in.

Crash!

"W-what happened?" Zaiden jumped from his bed and turned to me. His eyes widened when he saw me as he shouted. "Rai?!"

"Yo! Come with me fucker. Let me show you what you have done." Without waiting for his answer, I quickly closed the distance between us and punched him on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

I carried him over my shoulder and took his magic bag that was on the table.

'I think he will need him to defend himself.'

As I had taken his magic bag and strapped it onto my waist, I heard footsteps and shouts coming from below.

'I need to go now.'

I jumped out of the window with Zaiden on my shoulder and used the Shapeshift effect of my [Stealth Coat] to hide his body before using the Stealth effect to disappear.

'Time to get this motherfucker to suffer because of what he did.'

Though my training with Smith would be postponed, this thing was more important than that.