An armada of vehicles threaded the sleek asphalt streets of Shard City, where crowds of civilians had gathered across the sidewalks to monitor and take pictures of the sight. It wasn't every day the Bladeheart family made a move, and it was even rarer for the main family to gather along the branch.
Sitting on top of one of the cars to distance myself from the conversations of the adults, I closed my eyes, feeling the chilling breeze of the urban city. The fragrances of perfume shops whiffed past my nose along the spicy smell of the Eastern-inspired restaurants and stalls along the roadside.
In terms of aesthetics, Shard City wasn't influenced by the Western culture of the Empire. Rather, it was a take from our ancestors, the famed Clan Yoro-shi. They inhabited the Eastern parts of the Empire, and their culture was Asian-influenced. The founder of the Bladeheart family, having split from them centuries ago, ended up mixing their familiar culture with the Western-dominated culture of the Empire, which became our identity and led to the construction of this city and its overall Asian aesthetic.
"I guess this will be the closest I'll ever be to visiting Asia."
The cut-off point of my previous life's memories was around when I was in college. And during those times, I don't remember ever visiting Asia or any other country, to be exact.
"Hey, little cousin!"
My privacy, dead on arrival, was interrupted by Selena, who arrived from God knows where. I chose to pay her no heed as the car drove up a slope leading to a highway.
"Are you testing my patience by chance?" she implied.
"What benefit will there be in doing one?" I replied flatly.
I wasn't ignoring her to spite or irritate her. It wasn't that it would accomplish anything. As a matter of fact, the true reason—no, reasons—were much simpler.
Firstly, I was scared of her. The lasting trauma she left in my body and mind still haunted me up to date. She broke me a few times, metaphorically and physically. And the worst part of all, she got away with it by disguising her antics as toughness training.
Even more surprising it actually ended up toughening this body up. So much that after my memories unlocked and I lost most of my combat sense, my revision with Rita ended up being much more tolerable since I had faced something much crueler.
At the end of the day, my family ended up praising her for molding me just right, making that situation favorable for her.
Now came the second reason why I ignored her. She was my opponent in combat, hence I didn't want to mingle with her until the results were decided. The emotions I felt for Selena varied; at the end of the day, I needed to keep them in check so I would be in the right state of mind to fight without bias.
"Can I sit beside you, little cousin?" she requested. She didn't need my permission since, in terms of status, she was much higher than me. I might be the previous Lord's son, but she was the golden child of the family, the kind that rivaled my brother and even father in talent. Compared to her, I was rather luckluster and,without my abilities, unworthy of my lordship title.
"I'll go ahead and sit beside you then!"
After seconds without an answer, she answered her own request and made a place for herself on top of the car. It was a limo, so there was a lot of space up here.
As she sat, I ended up glancing at her side profile and frowned slightly. She was much paler than usual and thinner.
"Are you sick or what?"
My time spent worrying about Alice ended up manifesting here; hence, I couldn't help but question Selena, who brushed back strands of her fluttering ashen hair and responded, "...Yeah! Your dear cousin has been unhealthy for the past month."
She fake coughed at the end of her speech, and though those were a bluff, I felt deep down her words themselves held some form of truth.
But that begged another question though: warriors were rather tough. Unless they were exposed to harmful environments like the accursed mountains of the south, where the Fenrir clan held dominance, I doubted they would get sick.
What's more, anomalies like Selena and Abel had far more endurance and resistance to such mundane effects, all because of their unique physiology.
Honestly, that was actually a great buff for me since my opponent wouldn't be in her best condition. A while back, I had calculated my chance of victory to be above 30%, but let's say her supposed illness ended up being a debuff, then my victory would skyrocket to almost 45%.
"You're probably thinking this is an advantage..."
Resting her palms on the car, she smirked playfully as if teasing my thought pattern. Frankly speaking, that was the only logical thought I could conceive since my victory mattered a lot more than her illness. If it weakened her, so be it. Things like pride or honor I might understand, but I also believed there was no shame in grasping any golden opportunity that presented itself.
"...Hehe... what a bad cousin you are."
"You're one to speak," I retaliated and pointed at one of my legs. "Don't you remember breaking it?"
"Oh, I do..." she laughed.
"...Sigh, I was so cruel back then."
"....."
I was happy she knew how shitty her past self from a year ago was, but I doubted she felt much guilt.
"So what do you want, little~ cousin? An apology from cousin dearest?"
Leaning closer, she poked my right cheek with her finger, her expression amused.
"Save it," I responded and grabbed her finger, warning her to stop.
She tried reacting, but for some strange reason, I ended up being faster, only to pale when the same finger I grabbed bent awkwardly under the littlest pressure I placed on it.