Ascension: Online

As we waited in line patiently, I felt some gazes land on us. More specifically, on Hina-nee. She was nothing short of an otherworldly beauty, so it was only natural some men would lust for her. However… I never expected-

"Greetings."

-That one of them would actually walk over and confront us.

"Uh… you talking to me?" I asked the man who had just approached.

"No no," he replied. "The beautiful lady next to you."

The man was, of course, referring to Hina-nee. He had brilliant blond hair and was quite handsome, around twenty years old. He wore a full knight-like silver armor set, along with a charming smile. It was clear this wasn't the first time he was doing this - picking up girls. He probably thought Hina-nee would be swooned by this immediately, and fall in love with him. Unfortunately…

"Er… do I know you?"

All Hina-nee felt towards this man was confusion and perhaps a bit of disgust.

The man's eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn't expected this response. "Well, uh… no, not particularly. But all relationships have a start. This is ours."

"Pfft…" Ichigo and Horiya snickered from behind us, trying their best to hide their laughter.

"Um… I don't really want to start a relationship with you though?" Hina-nee raised an eyebrow and scratched her cheek. She obviously knew what this man was trying to do, but she wanted to just play it cool and see if he would back off.

He did not.

"That's what they all say at first," the man laughed boldly, drawing even more attention to us. "You're new here, right?"

Hina-nee nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"In that case, why don't you come with me? I'll explain everything about the Hunter's Guild to you, and after that, you can join my party. I guarantee you won't regret it, haha!"

I decided to interrupt before this conversation continued any further. "Uh, sorry, but there's no need for that-"

"Was I talking to you, brat?"

My expression froze as he sent me a glare. The entirety of the building fell silent, even the receptionists who had been talking to customers. They could feel it - trouble brewing.

Rather than become scared of his glare, I instead stared deep straight back into the man's eyes, as if searching his soul.

Ah… I see how it is.

Basically, he has a superiority complex.

Naturally, faced with his 'was I talking to you' question, I only had one response as the edge of my lips slowly turned up into a smirk.

"… Do I need your permission to speak?"

The man's glare intensified as it fully concentrated on me.

"Yo… who's that kid? How does he have the guts to go up against the renowned Silver Wolf?" I heard the audience murmur.

"I don't know… never seen his face before… maybe some newcomer from a backwater town nearby…?"

"If that's the case, then he's dead meat… he doesn't know who he just offended…"

"Don't push your luck, kid," the man clenched his fists tightly as he glared at me.

I smiled innocently, completely unaffected by his angry scowl. "Is it my luck getting pushed here… or is it yours?"

Unable to contain his anger any longer, he suddenly reached out with his hand for my throat. However, it was far too slow. In a mere millisecond, I shifted my position to just barely outside of his reach, as if taunting him. His hand closed around nothing but thin air, and his eyes widened.

"You…"

"What is it?" I tilted my head, continuing to taunt him.

"Tch…!"

He unleashed a devastating right hook aimed for my temple, and I prepared to dodge out of the way again. However, turns out, there was no need for that this time… for someone else interrupted.

"Enough is enough." Hina-nee caught the man's forearm in mid-air, right before he was going to strike me.

The man looked at Hina-nee in surprise, and found himself staring at a completely new girl. She was still as beautiful as ever, but the look of pure, dark hatred in Hina-nee's eyes wasn't something that could be faked. He tried pulling his arm away, but it wouldn't budge.

"What is this…?!"

Hina-nee tightened her grip around the man's arm, and he cried out in pain.

"… If you ever even think about laying a hand on Kaze-kun again… I'll kill you."

"There it is… the ferocious 'Sakura Demon' of our middle school…" Ichigo chuckled as he watched on in amusement.

"Ahaha, I remember when we used to bully Igarashi, she would send us that same look," Horiya snickered. "We would nearly piss our pants, then run away."

"… D-Damn, how are you so strong?!" the man continued to try and pull away, but Hina-nee's grip was too powerful.

"Hmph."

Hina-nee sent a front kick directly into the man's stomach, and he was sent flying backwards, crashing into tables and benches. The audience quickly got out of the way, lest they get crushed.

"G-Gah…" the man coughed a few times, sent us a glare, then raised his voice. "G-Guards! This damn bitch kicked me!"

"Shameless… everyone saw that he was the one who instigated it, but now he's calling for help?" the audience murmured in disgust.

But unfortunately for him, I wasn't done yet. He had said something he shouldn't have, just now.

In an instant, I was standing directly in front of the man, still laying on the floor. Faced with my sudden appearance, his eyes widened and he blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was right.

I didn't give him the luxury of doing that, however. I stepped down on his chest, hard, sending him back onto the floor.

"AGH!" he groaned in pain.

I leaned in to him and grabbed him by his chin, my gaze akin to one that could kill.

"What did you just call Hina-nee?"

"H-Huh? Hina? Who's that?!" the man cried in confusion. "Oh, wait… that damned girl who protected you just now? Haha! She's a bitch! What're you gonna do about it, huh, coward?!"

I reared my fist back and punched the man straight in the face. Once. Twice. Three times.

"AH!"

I kept pummeling him until his voice became muffled and his face no longer recognizable what with all the bruises and wounds. No guards or staff of the guild came to interfere, which was good, because I was so furious at the time that I probably would've punched them too if they tried to stop me.

"P-Please… s-shtop…" the man begged, his teeth nearly all knocked out, damaged so badly that he couldn't even speak properly anymore.

"Apologize."

"I-I'm… shorry…"

"Not to me. To Hina-nee."

The man eyed Hina-nee, who was watching all of this with a look of admiration on her face.

"I'm… really shorry… pwease, don't kill me…" he begged.

I closed my eyes. I hadn't been planning on killing him anyway. The guild could probably overlook me beating the shit out of him here because he had been the one to instigate the conflict - everyone here could bear witness to that - but if it became a matter of life and death…

"… The next time you insult her, I won't be so merciful."

I let go of his now-deformed face and calmly returned to where I had been waiting in line with the others, as if none of this had happened.

"Agh…" the man's consciousness slowly faded away.

I had been punching him so fast that he didn't even get a chance to go unconscious until now. The next time he woke up, he would probably be laying in a hospital bed. Even if he came for revenge, it would be a while before he could do so - though after this experience, I doubt he would try anything towards me or Hina-nee. If anything, all he felt towards us now was fear.

The human mind was a delicate thing. After you broke it, they won't ever be able to recover. Unlike physical wounds, mental scars were incurable.

"Sorry about that," I sighed.

"N-No, don't worry about it…" Ichigo muttered, but he was clearly in shock.

"Goddamn, Igarashi… with that kind of strength, why didn't you fight back at all back when we used to beat you…?" Horiya wondered aloud.

"That's because he knows doing that would make him no better than the two of you," Hina-nee cut in, sending Ichigo and Horiya reprimanding looks. They quickly averted their gazes out of fear.

Hina-nee then turned to me and gave me a warm hug. "Thank you for standing up for me, Kaze-kun…"

I scratched my head awkwardly. "You did the same for me. I was just repaying the favor."

"Hehe, even so… that was really cool."

"Ahaha… thanks…" I murmured in response, unsure of what else to say.

"Woo!" the other people in the building suddenly cheered loudly. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Good work, kid!" a senior who looked to be in his fifties chuckled. "Haven't seen such a satisfying beat-down in years!"

"Yeah, you showed that bastard good!" another yelled. "Hell, I was gonna do that to him myself someday soon if you didn't, haha!"

"…" I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it again, since there was no point.

It seemed like I already made a name for myself here at this Hunter's Guild, albeit unintentionally.

I looked down at my fists. They were stained with the blood of the man I had beaten up just now. Although the beat-down was certainly satisfying, I felt some traces of sadness. My anger had blinded me, and I acted impulsively. That was a weakness - one I needed to get rid of. Emotions were a dangerous thing in combat - they could spur you onward, but just as well bring you down. In order to minimize the chances of that happening… I had to learn to control my feelings.

Not only that, but… no matter what that man did, he was still a fellow human - not some kind of Magic Beast or Monster. Despite that, I felt no remorse about nearly killing him. I wonder… was the training A.R.X.A. had used on me that effective? It was just one sickleboar at first, but after killing that one, I felt no hesitation in killing any others. I just… never expected it to apply to humans too.

It's as if my humanity… had disappeared.