Chapter 6: The Heroine and the Genius

" Wonderful! Glorious! You were both amazing!"Elizabeth clapped happily before our astonished eyes. Hope was paralyzed.

"Sis?! What are you doing here?"

"How dare you ask? You let me take care of the chores, saying you had an urgent business, and I'll find you here."

"I told you I had something to do! Why did you follow me?!"

She pouted and walked towards us.

" Something important? You mean getting your ass kicked?"

"Oi! I didn't get my ass kicked, it was a draw! Tell her, Dora!"

"... Mom forbids me to lie."

"You shit!"

"No, you're the shit here, how did you lose so ridiculously after I taught you Hero Time? I've seen a lot of battles but this one has the funniest conclusion I've ever seen." She laughed patting his head. Hope was fuming with rage.

"If so, fight me again! And this time, no running!"

"Excuse me, senior?"

"*sigh* Hope, you still have a long way to go. If it was a fight to the death, who do you think the winner would be?" historical

It was an interesting point, personally, I didn't know this woman but I already liked her.

"It's not like that, I lost this time because he ran away, but in an official match..."

"Hope. Your first mistake was challenging someone more talented than you, your biggest mistake was telling him exactly how your technique works. You're on the floor, he's standing, in a real fight, you'd still have lost."

"No, it's not fair!"

"Hope!"

She silenced her brother just by saying his name, an interesting power. Hope crossed his arms, his face bored.

"Hope, remember the promise we made last night?"

"... I know."

"...And what was it?"

"Uuurght... Could you wait till we get home? You're ridiculing me in front of my friend." He looked at me, was my smile so annoying?

"Hope..."

"Ok, Ok, I'm going to train harder and learn how to fight, to become the best fighter in the academy and later the strongest emissary, to give you the biggest fight of your life."

She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"You have mixed up the point, you must grow strong for the good of the world and become the next leader of the royal knights. But I forgive you since you remember I need a good challenger."

"Sister... This is embarrassing." He looked at me with help, the message was clear, he wanted me to leave as soon as possible, I had humiliated him enough for today after all.

"Well, it's getting late, I'm going home then, see you soon..."

"Wait, I want to talk a little more with you."

Hope and I were surprised by Elizabeth's strange request.

"You're the one who regularly beats Hope, aren't you?" ?

"... Hope... You cowardly snitch."

"Wait, I didn't ask that!"

She laughed again, I didn't know if she was born happy or if she was glad to have found her brother's bully.

"Don't worry, I'm only curious about your power."

"... The power I use to... Be your wonderful brother's best friend?"

" Eeeeeh? I thought your mother forbade you to lie?"

"Stop worrying, I'm not going to eat you. In fact, I'm glad Hope has a friend like you, I feel like he's going to learn a lot. So if I'm not mistaken, you are Anesi the avatar aren't you?"

I was a little worried about this woman, strong enough to crush me with a toe, but I also understood that there was no way out. She was an S-rank Avatar, with various attributes, I knew very well that trying to run away was useless.

"Yes, that should be me, what is it?"

"Well, I heard in the village that you were an Avatar with only debuff abilities... But I guess it's more interesting than that, isn't it?"

"Why are you even interested in me?"

"You shouldn't be so surprised, how could I not care who beat my lovely brother, the avatar hero, so many times? Especially when I heard you were just a debuff, Mr. Floral Artist."

I was getting more and more annoyed, if you want revenge, at least let him do it himself. But somehow, I knew very well where she came from.

"Okay you got me, yeah I don't use my full power in battle I'm a wonderful genius parrying through the rifts with my group but going genocidal on your brother, now what? Are you going to punish me?"

"You should really calm down, I'm not your enemy."

"Stop acting like one then!"

She laughed and started walking, and we followed her.

"I apologize in advance but I ended up listening to your conversation. So you're actually a very talented emissary but you decided to lower your level since you didn't want to shine too much, right?"

"No, I and Leon paired up once, by chance, 2 or 3 years ago when an E-rank rift had fully opened. Leon was already very strong so I just used debuffs because that was enough. And so, whenever a rift appeared, we teamed up, him as a DPS, me as a debuff, but it was only a temporary duo."

"Until Sana and Lillith join you, right?"

I looked at her with a bored expression.

"I guess being the strongest means you have a lot of free time, yeah basically Sana and Lillith were longtime friends, they also wanted to be professional emissaries, so they joined us after they got to the village. I don't know if that was the plan all along, but Leon declared us a party after a while."

"I see, I understand you a little more, you don't show your strength because you've never been in a situation that asked you to do so... So beating the honor out of Hope is more important than a rift battle."

"Hell, yeah!"

"I hate you both!!!"

He furiously runs off as we laugh. Elizabeth stopped abruptly, watching the last rays of the sun.

"Say, I know you have your principles but... why not join the forces of the Kingdom?"

I looked at her and noticed the changes in her expression. She suddenly looked melancholy.

"And here it is, that was your real goal from the beginning, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Sorry if you're disappointed, but I've been asking Hope about you for a while. I don't want to brag about him, but I know his level, he already has the level to become an E-rank and I know he will move up the ranks quickly."

She looked at the palms of her hands, a gleam in her eye.

"Imagine my reaction when I saw him develop a new technique to counter his rival. An invincible rival that pushes him to surpass himself and improve. Hope has never evolved so much since he saw you as his rival. You are more beneficial to him than me and my family's workouts."

"If I understood correctly, you would like me to follow him in his quest to join the royal forces, to realize his dream, by putting myself at his disposal and for the happiness of his sister. Do I look like social service?"

"Wait, you always put it the wrong way, I'm saying it for you too."

"No, whatever you want to say, in the end, I'm in the royal forces, so that's a fucking NO."

"At least listen..."

"Bloody NO! Are you crazy to ask that to someone who just got their freedom? I had to serve an underling for a year, someone became my girlfriend and took my Damn afternoon, and some weirdo keeps bugging me to get stronger and the worst part is, it's not just your brother. Leave me alone damn it!"

"Let me talk, Damn boy!"

"Aaand we're done. Talk to my lawyer, his name is Hell, first name Go to."

I left, but she continued to follow me.

"Listen, you're an avatar, as such you can only use skills from a few branches... But I saw you using magic, healing, and you made yourself look like a debuff. It is at least 3 different branches. I also know that you are physically stronger than Hope in some cases, so there is even more to that... An Avatar with many branches, you have the potential to become one of the strongest people in the world."

"I'll tell Hope you're rooting for his rival."

"If only you could let me... Hope told me he couldn't move on unless he knocked you down, are you ok with letting him go?"

This time it was me who stopped.

"What in the Hell..."

"You don't use your power in the rift, but ridiculing him is enough reason to use them right? Are you fine letting him be happy so casually? Imagine if he grows stronger than you, imagine if he becomes D-rank, what do you think he would do first?"

This time it was me who stopped. I watched with 1000 questions this person who, to get what she wanted, put her brother's happiness at stake. But it turned out to be very effective.

"I... I also don't plan on staying an E-rank... Or staying in the village forever... What's wrong with you anyway?! You're telling me I have to join the royal forces just to crush your brother's dream?"

"Yes."

"... I'm a monster, but you, you terrify me."

"What I'm saying is, how could anyone be the strongest if there's someone who could beat them just by trying a little bit? I wouldn't like to have that title in these circumstances."

"I would, goodbye."

I tried to run but the strongest grip in the Kingdom landed on my shoulder.

"Also, it's for you too. You said you wanted freedom, didn't you?"

"... I swear, I'll tell everyone you're harassing me!"

She was silent for a moment before showing a terrifying smile, I knew that one of my words doomed me, but I didn't realize how much.

She grabbed me and knocked me down, locking my hands in hers.

"Let... Let me go! You monster!"

"Scream all you want, no one will come to help you."

"W-what the Hell are you doing?!"

"You said I'm harassing you, didn't you? I just want to do it correctly."

I froze for a moment, my biggest fear, the fear of being dominated by Hope was happening, in the form of someone from his bloodline instead.

"The moon looks delicious tonight."

"It's... It's still sunset..."

"I wasn't talking about that moon."

A cry of despair greeted the fall of night.