Tbate | A clash between times | The beginning after the end

Chapter 25

Arthur Leywin

It's been two weeks since Grey killed Uto. Seeing Uto was a slap in the face. I never expected them to be so... powerful. Before Grey came I thought we had time, a lot of it. Once he came and told us about the future I convinced myself that I could slack off some more. So every night I go off and train. I want to hit dark silver by the end of the year; it's in five months, so I'll have to work hard.

Currently, I'm shadow boxing Grey in the training room. Since his moves just repeat, it's super easy. I looked at the clock above the door, it was now midnight. I sighed, "I better go to sleep, even if the weekend is tomorrow."

I walked back to my room and started to put my sword away. "And where were you?"

I turned and saw Tess standing in the now open door that connected our rooms. She was wearing long pajama pants and a thick sweater, they were similar to one's from my old world. We had grown used to seeing each other in such outfits. I also noticed that Tess started to mature faster ever since she started to hang out with Caera.

"You're pushing yourself too much, you still have time, you know." Tess stated as she approached me. "You saw him, Tess, he was insanely powerful. If I don't push myself now then I won't be able to protect anyone in the future." I said. I was just lying to myself, trying to justify not taking care of myself. "Why are you awake at this time?" I asked her.

"Our little white fox told me. She's also worried for you," replied Tess as she got on my bed and put her head on my pillow. I sat down with my back on the wall so that her face was right next to my lap. "I know it's just..." I started.

"You don't want me to die." She finished. "Arthur, you run away from people to keep them safe. If I remember correctly, you left to be an adventurer right after you reunited with your parents. In a span of 6 years how long were you living with them?"

"4 months." I said, turning away from her.

Tess then sat up herself and pushed my head on her lap. "You've gotten bold princess," I teased. "Quiet old man," old man. It's what Tess has been calling me in response to me calling her princess. She took my reincarnation really well; Instead of pushing us apart it brought us closer.

"You need to learn how to pace yourself. Not to mention your trust issues. I understand not telling people about who you were because of what they might do. Heck, I almost abandoned you because of it." Tess said this as if she was reading my mind. She then began to play with my hair; it felt nice. "Can you tell me everything?"

"What do you mean by everything?" I asked. Tess had refrained from asking about my past life ever since she learned about it. I guess she wanted to wait until I was ready.

"What was your life like? How was your world organized?" Tess then stopped to ponder her next question. "What kind of sweets were there?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Stop it~ it's not funny~" Tess said while pouting. "Is it so wrong to know about the homeworld of my boyfriend?"

"No, no, not at all. My life wasn't a glamorous one. The director of the orphanage that I lived in was a very kind person. That's also where I met Nico and Cecilia, my only two friends. Nico was an inventor, he created all sorts of gadgets to help him fight. Cecilia was a kind girl, she and Nico were in love and they spent all of their time together. After the Director was murdered, I went to a fighting school. They followed me even though I told them not to." I took a deep breath to catch my breath.

"The stuff they taught us at that school was useless. The sole point of their fighting style was to cause pain, not to win, not to cause any damage, just cause pain. It was so ineffective that I would spend all my time unlearning it. Once I got that out of my head, I would sneak off to the library and learn techniques from there. Unfortunately, I couldn't read , so I learned off the pictures. Not that I think about it, no normal person could do that."