Humanity Return
Ch. 54 – Youth Blonde and White Gorilla
The sound of cheers shook the entire stadium, from all the spectators who saw the frightened young man's sword managed to stop Leinn's sword that almost touched his neck.
The frightened youth looked at his slightly glowing sword, then at the black-haired youth in front of him.
Leinn pulled back his sword and took one step back.
“Huh?”
The young man stared at the sword in his hand which had already stopped shining in confusion, not understanding what had just happened.
He looked at Leinn who was smiling at him, then realized the tremors in his already lost body.
“Ah..”
The young man realized the change in him.
He didn't get stronger or faster during that fight, Leinn didn't have such a magical ability.
His slash was getting faster and more precise as he was not held back by his fear anymore.
“Congratulations.”.
Leinn was seen sheathing back his sword and the smile on his face just disappeared, replaced by a sad look.
His gaze stopped on the sword in the young man's hand.
“...and sorry”
Cracks...
Simultaneously, the sword split into pieces and the fragments fell onto the stone floor below.
It seemed like the hundreds of sword exchanges before had exhausted the resilience of that sword.
“Ah..”
The young man's expression showed how devastated he was to see the broken sword in front of him.
Leinn looked at that and turned his body around, seeing that the outcome of the fight was over when his opponent lost that weapon.
His steps became a little heavy as he recalled the moment he realized the state of his sword.
He had only realized the condition of the sword in the middle of their exchange and by then, he was already too late.
So he chose to continue the exchange, letting the owner go beyond his limits with him.
But that doesn't diminish Leinn-'s feelings of guilt
“Thank you!”
His steps stopped when he heard that sentence.
Leinn turned around and found the young man was bowing his head deeply with a shard of his sword in his embrace.
The sight left him silent for a moment, then...
“Save your sword fragments”
The young man was startled and raised his head after hearing that, but only saw Leinn walking further and further away.
He began to hold the handle of the sword and the fragments of his sword tightly.
“First winner, Leinn!”
Isaac's voice resuscitated the entire audience and the six others who were still above their respective arenas.
Making the announcement a sign, they began to continue their fight again.
Their movements were slightly interrupted due to the same thought between them, and the same was also thought by the people who were still waiting for their turn to fight as well.
‘Will I fight against that monster?’
They didn't know the reason why Leinn did what he did, but they couldn't stop remembering the slash.
Looking at the same hundred times slash, a slash that never missed its target.
What if the young man decided to completely slash their necks?
“Hahaha..”.
The young man who was talked about just laughed while jumping down from the arena while carrying his Contracted Beast.
Everyone around him could not take their eyes off the sword at his waist, which looked even more terrifying than before.
...
“...Roland!”
The blond-haired youth turned his head after hearing his name being called, finding the blue-haired girl who was eating him with an annoyed expression.
“What's up, Adeline?”
Roland smiled at the girl in front of him, not understanding her reason for looking angry like that.
“K-you...!”
Adeline's face looked slightly flushed when she saw Roland's smile, then walked past her so that the young man could not see her face.
His regret still had not lessened, instead he was more angry than before.
“Hmph!”
No one knew how difficult it was to make Roland smile more than himself.
Even himself alone could only make the young man in front of him show such an expression by speaking honestly, something Adeline was very unwilling to do.
Roland sped up his pace to catch up with Adeline, leaving a small lightning bolt on the ground he was treading on.
“What's the problem..?” roland said with a worried tone.
Seeing the smile that Roland had lost on his face, Adeline's feelings turned mixed.
From the very beginning his anger was not directed at Roland who was feeling happy, but rather the young man who caused the feeling of pleasure.
“I'm fine!” adeline said with a big smile.
“...”
Roland looked at the girl without saying anything, choosing not to continue his question after seeing that smile.
“Psssht...!”
Twig caught up with the two of them after being sidetracked by the colored insects and left quite a distance behind.
He had not been at that smaller size for a long time, which made his movements much slower than before.
“Twig..”.
Roland stroked the four-meter-long snake beside him with a smile.
His palm suddenly let out a small lightning bolt, which made the snake scales react and let out its small lightning as well.
“Haha..”.
Roland regained his senses after seeing the jumping lightning and again showed a flat expression, making his hand that stroked the snake stop letting out lightning.
“Ah..”
Adeline let out a weak voice after seeing that smile disappear once again.
The three of them finally arrived at Roland's destination, an open training field.
“Fiuh..”.
Crackles...
Adeline walked to one side of the field and saw Roland who had started to be enveloped in lightning from a distance, with Twig circling next to her.
He could feel the emotions that Roland had emitted every time he trained in the past two weeks, none other than a dense fighting spirit.
Roland simply stood up as he closed his eyes in the middle of the field and increased the intensity of the lightning that enveloped him gradually then lowered them slowly, repeating continuously.
“Hm..?”
It had not been long since Roland had started his practice and he had already reopened his eyes, then looked at the three newcomers on the training ground.
“H-hello again!”
Aura uttered that after jumping down from Rufus and landing beside Basalt, looking extremely nervous when receiving that gaze from Roland in front of her.
The last lightning was missing from Roland's body which started to walk closer to the pink-haired girl.
“What's up, Miss Flameheart?”
“A-a.. u-um..”.
Roland's emotionless gaze added the flat tone of speech that evoked a familiar feeling from within Aura, making her panic even more.
Before Roland could ask again, the big Gorilla beside Aura had already stepped forward and mediated them.
“Hoh...!”
Bam!
The contraction of Basalt's muscles blew up the air around him, indicating his intention to stop Roland from approaching Aura.
Roland looked at Basalt's expression, then Aura's expression behind him.
He only looked at the two of them for a moment, then turned around without changing his flat expression.
Adeline who had run from earlier finally arrived in front of Aura.
“Are you okay, Miss Aura?”
Adeline only turned her head towards Roland at a glance, then focused her attention on Aura.
“Ah... Miss Adeline..”.
Aura's emotions stabilized after seeing the worried expression of the girl in front of her, then regained her composure after a few deep breaths.
“U... The reason I came here... Basalt..”.
Aura began to explain her goal of chasing the two of them.
Shortly after leaving the stadium, Aura planned to go to the library to continue one of the books she had not finished reading and in the middle of her journey, Basalt who was with her suddenly stopped her.
Basalt conveyed his desire to meet Roland again, then wanted to chase after him.
After a moment of questioning how he could understand what Basalt was talking about, Aura chose to accompany him looking for Roland.
“Hoh!”
“...are you sure?”
Returning to now, Roland who was standing face to face with the big white Gorilla without showing any emotion.
Adeline, Aura, Rufus and Twig were quite far away from the two of them, seeing the increasingly tense atmosphere between the two creatures.
“Hoh!”
“Good..”.
Crackle...!
