Narrator's POV
"Ryan, why did you choose to come here instead of coming with me and Teo?"
The light of the sun shined through some leaves as Ryan calmly walked through a dirt road, he momentarily stopped and looked behind him, seeing Orly staring at him, her parasol open, covering her white hair, blue eyes and pale skin from the sun even though her smile seemed to shine just as bright.
"I...don't understand, Ms.Orly"
"You have always been so...attached to us, more to Teo than to me, but ever since I brought you back to life I've felt like you've tried to put more and more distance between us" The woman slowly walked past Ryan, and he soon followed her. "Teo probably saw that too, but you know how he is...he'd prefer to keep himself silent instead of speaking what's really on his mind, I guess you learned that from him didn't you?"
"There's...nothing wrong, Ms.Orly, I'm sorry if it seemed like that, I decided to come to Shion Island to fulfill my duties as a noble" He explained though the tip of Orly's parasol poked his lips softly.
The white-haired woman peeked her head over the open parasol. "You can't lie to your mother you know? That'd break my soft heart" with a soft chuckle she again put the parasol over her shoulder. "So just speak up, tell me what's wrong"
"...I'm...scared, I guess" Ryan sighed softly. "I was telling the truth about coming here to fulfill my duty as a noble, but also...to try and be a better person, Ms.Orly...do you remember what happened at Roclis?"
"...Ryan..." The woman's voice softened and slowly cupped the boy's cheek. "You went there to save Perla"
"Yeah, I went to save Perla...not to slaughter innocent slaves, I didn't have to cut them down to get to her but...they were in the middle, they were slowing me down by asking me to help them too, but I didn't care, I just wanted to save Perla, so I just...went through every single one of them" his gaze slowly moved down and his right hand went to his chest, grasping his clothes tightly. "What I did that night...I know Mr.Teo and you would never forgive me, even Perla, I saved her but...for how long did I hold onto her? how much of the slave's blood did I stain her with until Mr.Teo arrived and took both of us back?"
The woman simply remained silent, both of them reached a meadow, without saying a single word they slowly moved up the meadow and sat down at the base of a tree.
"If you could change what happened that night, would you?" The woman asked.
"...No" he replied and the woman widened her eyes a little. "If you had asked me the same question 1 week ago I would've said yes...that I would do everything in my power to not kill any slave and just deal with the bandits, but..."
"Something did happen recently, didn't it?" The Woman slowly put her hand on Ryan's shoulder. "You called for me 2 days ago...not Teo, not both of us, just me"
"I feared Mr.Teo would be disappointed in me because...I'm trying to be a good person by being here, managing my territory, taking care of my people and of the Island but...am I really trying...if I don't have that desire in my heart?" He spoke and the woman's brows furrowed a little.
"Ryan, what do you-"
"I almost died a few days ago, Ms.Orly, in a fight, I believe that it was the first time I have ever felt so utterly...terrified, Dunn Chevalier, he was really a monster" He started to explain as he looked down. "My uncle, to think there was still another Chevalier left..."
"...While on my way to meet you I gossiped around, heard that a string of murders had suddenly stopped...you killed Dunn Chevalier, didn't you?" The woman slowly closed her parasol and settled it down beside her and soon Ryan nodded with his head as a response. "A Chevalier...you already know what you are, don't you?"
"I had read some text in the Chevalier Manor, I didn't want to believe it but...in my fight with Dunn Chevalier, I finally grasped the power of that goddess, before, I could only listen to her voice, but when I mutilated Dunn Chevalier, I saw her, The Goddess of Assassination, Turzina"
Orly's gad lowered a little before sighing. "I heard rumours too, the Chevaliers being Avatars of a god of death, that their souls are manipulated and perfected for killing..."
"When I saw Dunn Chevalier, when I fought him, I saw the monster that I could've become at some point, and I believe that what happened at Roclis is what stopped me from becoming the same as Dunn Chevalier..." Ryan explained as he started to look up at the sky. "The way you, Mr.Teo and Perla looked at me after what I did at Roclis...it made me think that what I did was horrible, while killing for Mr.Teo, I never stopped to think if it was something good or bad, and maybe that is because of what I am, as much as I want to try and be a good person, I don't think I can feel anything for the people I'm meant to protect..."
"And what about us?" Orly spoke and the question made Ryan suddenly perk up and look at her. "Do you feel something towards us? Towards Me and Teo?"
"I...I don't...I don't know..." Ryan's gaze slowly lowered, not wanting to directly look at the woman as he held a hand to his chest. "I don't know if what I feel for both of you is real...I don't know if I love both of you..."
"Heh~ you should've said that earlier" The woman clasped her palms together and smiled. "This has a pretty simple fix, though Teo will be a little mad at me, I know he'll understand~"
Orly then slowly opened her hand, letting a magic circle appear above it, and from said magic circle came out a small box, falling on her palm, the magic circle then slowly dissapeared and she smoothly untied the little bow around the box, opening it and handing it to Ryan.
"What's...this?" He asked a little curious as he accepted the box.
Inside of it, Ryan was able to see what seemed to be a golden hair ornament with the shape of a crescent moon, he slowly took it out of the box and carefully eyed while Orly let out a small chuckle.
"Hehe~ Teo and I planned on giving it to you in your birthday, but since the situation is so dire, you can have it now, but still take it as a birthday gift~" the woman's hands slowly moved to Ryan's holding them softly. "Listen to me, Ryan, do you really believe you don't have feelings for us?"
"....I want to believe that I do" Ryan admitted and Orly smiled softly.
"My child, there are many ways to show love, do you want to love us?" She asked and he slowly nodded with his head. "Good, then that's all that matters, accept this gift from us, use it, cherish it, take it as a proof of your love for us"
"Can I...really do that?"
"Why can't you? A gift from your parents, it's the proof of our love for you, and your acceptance of it, is the proof of your love for us, will you take it and use it?" The woman asked again.
Ryan stared down at the ornament for a few seconds, one small drop of water fell on it, and quickly brushing his eyes with his arm he realized he had unknowingly started to cry, seeing his own tear-stained sleeve he smiled lightly and looked at the woman sitting in front of him.
"Yes, always" Ryan nodded with his head.
"Oh dear, you're crying" The woman let out a small chuckle before brushing some tears off his face. "Turn around, I'll put it on you"
Without any kind of hesitation, Ryan handed the ornament over to the woman who happily took as the white-haired boy turned around, Orly carefully drove a hand to her son's head, undoing the thin red rope that he was using to tie his hair, Ryan's long white hair flowed down his back though it was soon picked up by Orly, who carefully drove it up in a high ponytail before clasping the Ornament around it, completely tying the boy's hair up.
"And...done~" as she finished, her right hand formed a small and thin Ice panel handing it to Ryan for him to use as a mirror. "So? Do you like it?"
Ryan stared at his own reflection on the ice for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes Ms.Orly, I really like it"
"Would you say that you love it~?" She asked in a slight teasing tone that made Ryan smile. "C'mon, you can say that you love us now~"
"Yeah...I love both you and Mr.Teo"
....
Ryan's body fell down on the ceiling of a building and rolled a bit before managing to stand up quickly, looking at the woman who landed on the roof a few meter away from him.
"Who are you?!" Ryan asked as he formed an ethereal Katana in his right hand. "Another Stellaron Hunter?"
Jingliu shook her head slowly. "I'm not a Stellaron Hunter...you could say I'm a Hunter, after all, I've been watching you for a short while"
"I wasn't wrong then...that time before hunting Kafka, this woman was watching me" his brows furrowed a little. "What do you want from me?"
"Whether I want something from you or not hasn't been decided yet" The Woman slowly drove her hand forward pointing one finger at him. "This is a test, failure means death, keep that in mind"
Jingliu formed an Ice Sword in her hand, grabbing the weapon tightly she threw an upwards swing, launching an Ice Cut directly at Ryan, the white-haired barely had time to react and use both, the Ethereal Katana and also his scabbard to block the attack, he received some damage and also was launched backwards, his feet dragging across the floor.
"A test?! What does she want?!" Ryan's mind tried to process the situation quickly but he saw himself forced to roll to the side to dodge a downards cut from Jingliu.
He surrounded his scabbard with Ice and used it to block the attack from Jingliu's sword, then they started to clash, the woman's attack were quite restrained, but Ryan could still barely deal with them, blocking or deflecting them as best as he could, and his own quick attacks were just dodged by Jingliu.
"Weird...this young man doesn't seem to have much technique behind behind his slashes...could it be?" Behind her blindfold, the woman's eyes widened a little. "Does he fight purely on instinct and reaction?...that makes things easier, in order to have him draw out that power, I just need to drive him to the edge"
Ryan gave a step back to dodge an attack from Jingliu, then he jumped away to create some distance as he threw some fireballs at the white-haired woman, though she simply slashes the fire with her sword making them vanish almost instantly.
The moment Ryan landed, he waved his hand letting various Ethereal swords appear and fly directly at Jingliu, who in response threw another Ice Cut breaking all the swords and going directly at Ryan who this time managed to dodge to attack, he saw Jingliu momentarily dissapear before appearing behind him, getting to feel her pressure he turned around and blocked a strike from the white-haired woman's sword with his scabbard, though his improvised weapons cracked a little under the strength behind the attack.
"This woman!..." He was pushed back from the strength behind Jingliu's attack. "She's too fast and strong, I can barely keep up with her..."
Ryan jumped back to dodge and attack from Jingliu and made his Ethereal Katana dissapear, forming a lightning bow he formed a lighting arrow and shot directly at Jingliu, though the woman aimed her sword at the attack, catch the lightning with her weapon before redirecting all the electricity towards the ground.
"No...Not yet, he's not fighting like that yet" Jingliu's mind moved to the moment where she saw him fight against the Astral Express. "He was faster then...and seemed more ruthless, I will have to really force him to take this seriously..."
The white-haired woman let out a slow and gentle sigh, the hand on her ice sword tightening a little while her other hand moved to her face, slowly removing the blindfold from her eyes, exposing the pair of red eyes that immediately locked onto Ryan.
"Young Man...take this test seriously"
With a single step, Jingliu appeared right in front of Ryan, the white-haired boy gave a step back and raised his scabbard to block and attack, but the Mara-Struck woman threw a quick up slash, this time, her sword completely broke Ryan's scabbard, and hit him directly... completely cutting Ryan's right arm off from his shoulder.
The Moon Spirit momentarily stood completely stunned, his eyes moving to his severed arm that was mid-air, and in an instant his eyes locked onto Jingliu, his blue eyes shifted to green and beneath his feet appeared a green magic circle, and then time completely stopped.
Everything lost its color, Ryan let go of the broken scabbard and jumped back to both create distance from the Jingliu and to grab his arm, attaching it back in place and using time magic to completely heal himself and fix his clothes, he let out a grunt as he finished, regaining control of his right arm, and then time started to flow again.
Jingliu furrowed her brows a little, her red eyes staring directly at Ryan's, that had already come back to their common blue color, the woman slowly tightened the grip of her sword.
"What he did... it wasn't speed, even if he had suddenly gotten faster than me, I would've at least been able to follow his movement, but he just...changed positions, no...not only that..." Jingliu's eyes stared at the now completely reattached arm. "He reattached his arm...even his clothes got fixed, like if...it had never happened"
"This woman...does she really plan to kill me if I don't fight back properly?" Ryan's thoughs raced quickly.
Ryan could barely react as Jingliu almost immediately closed the distance, the woman's ice sword grew bigger with more Ice, the edge getting sharper and blade getting broader, Jingliu attacked, but before her attack connected, Ryan completely dissapeared from the place, already being in the air, throwing three quick fireballs at the woman.
"He did it again..." Jingliu's eyes narrowed. "It's definitely not speed...could it be?...I need to test it"
Ryan touched the ground and formed various Ethereal Katanas around him, throwing all of them towards Jingliu who answered to the attack by calmly blocking them with her sword letting them pierce her weapon getting imbedded on it before dissapearing.
Jingliu threw 4 quick ice Slashes at Ryan before dashing alongside them, using her own attacks as cover, the white haired boy growled and dodged the first two with some trouble before forming magic circle as a shield blocking the other two, though the fourth slash broke the circle making him stumble backwards completely vulnerable to Jingliu who grabbed him by his throat, the woman gripped her sword tightly and launched an attack.
But this time Jingliu was able to see it.
She could see how everything, including herself, stopped completely, all colors dissapearing leaving only scales of grey, Ryan freed himself from the grip and maintained his distance breathing a little heavily.
"Time... he's stopping time...he must have used a variation of this ability to heal his arm and fix his clothes...he can manipulate time, it looks like not for long...but I can see it now" Jingliu's eyes followed Ryan, though the white-haired boy seemed to not realize this.
He didn't need to breathe, the choking wouldn't have done much anyways but...the pressure that he felt from this woman was something that only one other person had, it made his body feel a sudden rush of anxiety.
"Dunn Chevalier...is this going to be like that one fight too?" Sweat started to go down his forehead. "I can't waste time yet, I can't keep being defensive, I have to move on to offense and tear that woman apart before she kills me!"
Ryan's face showed a mix of nervousness and some anxiety before he formed an Ethereal Katana, time was still stopped, and tightly gripping the magic sword, Ryan immediately dashed towards the woman, throwing a cut directly to the woman's neck...
"Move"
Jingliu made her entire body obey, for a single second, the color came back to her, and she moved, her sword being held tightly in her hand, she stopped the Ethereal weapon with her free hand, and the other hand attacked with her sword with a slash directly to Ryan's head.
"What the-" Ryan barely managed to cover himself with some ice before the weapon hit him directly.
The attack sent him flying pretty hard making his body hit the wall lf a nearby building with his body mildly burying itself on the wall, time started to flow again and for the first time, Jingliu let out a slightly tired sigh, she looked at her hand and weapon furrowing her brows a little.
"I could move...but it was hard, like if the entire world was forcing me to stay still, but now that I understand...I can counter it"
The Swordmaster then held her weapon, and started to walk in the direction she had sent the boy flying.
Ryan fell down from the wall he had been thrown, his body now hitting the ceiling the building below, some blood was dripping down the side of his head slightly staining his hair and the left side of his face, while his long hair fell completely free, with strands covering his right eye.
Ryan momentarily stopped thinking entirely, the sound of some metal pieces falling onto a hard surface made him completely stop any kind of thought, his blue eyes stared in front of him and a little down, seeing how the strike had completely broken the ornament he used on his head, the various pieces sprayed across the cold surface under him.
Jingliu had broken it.
"...Uh...?"
★ ★ ★
A/N: Man...I could've finished this one like 1 week and a half ago, I don't know why it took so much effort for me to actually write what little remained of this chapter.
Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter as soon as possible.
Hope you all enjoyed!