"Kazuha? What are you doing here?"

  A boy peeked out from behind a tree and turned to see a girl with long green hair approaching, her face lit by a sweet, wide smile.

  "Arabella? Why are you here?" young Kazuha asked as the small girl walked closer to him.

  "Master ZhaoZhao is looking for you. Why are you out here?" Arabella asked.

  With an annoyed expression, young Kazuha turned his gaze away from her, avoiding eye contact.

  "Master ZhaoZhao probably just wants me to grow another tree again. He thinks the wood element is useless in battle and calls it the weakest one."

  "That's impossible. Master ZhaoZhao wouldn't think like that. We're from the Kamihojo clan alliance—we're meant to be support. We're still useful in fights," Arabella replied with her gentle smile, even though Kazuha refused to look at her.

  Kazuha pulled his knees up and tried to cover his eyes with both arms. "When did you start thinking Master ZhaoZhao is just using us as tools on the battlefield?"

  Arabella scooted closer and whispered, "What if we just run away from the village?"

  Kazuha jolted in shock and stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. "Are you crazy? How would we survive without help from the adults?"

  Seeing his panicked face made Arabella giggle softly. "What's wrong? Are you scared? We're teenagers now—we can live on our own."

  Kazuha took a deep, steadying breath to calm himself before answering. "That's true, but who would hire a thirteen-year-old? We can't survive without money."

  Arabella tapped her chin as if thinking deeply. "Hmm, let me think… I could sell flowers with my power, you could sell wood with yours, or we could live off fruit and hunting."

  "Even if that worked, we'd be branded traitors and hunted by the clan's pursuers. Besides, I won't run away without my music player—Master ZhaoZhao confiscated it," Kazuha replied.

  "You could borrow mine," Arabella suggested.

  "I've told you how many times, Arabell? I don't like that electronic music made by that iron bull guy," Kazuha answered indifferently.

  "Hey! Electronic music is way more exciting than the rock and metal you always praise," Arabella huffed, turning her face away from him.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Well, that means we're not running away from the village after all," Kazuha said casually.

  The garden fell quiet and peaceful for a moment until Arabella broke the silence.

  Without turning back to face him, she spoke. "If I get your music player back for you, do you promise we'll run away from the village after next week's war ends?"

  Kazuha looked at her with deep worry. "Are you insane? Master ZhaoZhao has tons of guards protecting every side of the big house."

  Arabella turned back to him with that same sweet smile. "I already have a way. It's impossible to get caught. So promise me—after next week's war, we'll leave the village."

  She raised her pinky finger, waiting for his answer.

  Even though worry filled him, Kazuha trusted Arabella. So he raised his own pinky finger to seal the pinky promise.

  "Promise."

  A robotic laugh suddenly echoed, and Kazuha clenched his hand again—the one that had just raised his pinky.

  "In the end, that promise was never fulfilled," Jeffy said in his robotic voice, followed by a small chuckle.

  Without any warning, Kazuha created a single dagger and hurled it straight at the iron bull's face. But with quick and clever reflexes, Jeffy caught the blade by its sharp edge.

  When Jeffy shifted his gaze from the dagger back to Kazuha, he was shocked—Kazuha had vanished from the block. A split second later, he glanced to his left and saw Kazuha's leg swinging in with brutal force, smashing directly into his face.

  Jeffy was sent flying sideways at incredible speed until a red block suddenly appeared behind him and stopped his momentum.

  A dagger flew toward him at high speed. Acting on instinct, Jeffy dodged, letting it embed itself beside his head.

  He stared at the dagger for a moment before turning forward—only to see Kazuha already charging with a clenched fist aimed at his face.

  Fortunately, Jeffy managed to evade in the opposite direction of the dagger. As a result, Kazuha's punch slammed into the hard block instead, shattering part of it.

  Seizing the opening while Kazuha's hand was stuck in the block, Jeffy released small colorful blocks from his head that merged into his right hand, reinforcing it. He then delivered a full-power punch straight to Kazuha's face.

  The force threw Kazuha far away from Jeffy. But before he could fly too far, Jeffy created another block behind him. Then, with powerful strength, Jeffy leaped forward and aimed a kick at Kazuha's face.

  Just as Jeffy's foot was about to connect, black smoke suddenly enveloped Kazuha's body. When the kick landed, Jeffy only felt his foot smashing through the block instead of hitting Kazuha's face.

  Jeffy looked back and saw Kazuha had teleported to the dagger he had thrown earlier.

  Without pausing, Kazuha retrieved the dagger that had been embedded near Jeffy and threw it back at him. Jeffy countered by summoning a small block to block the incoming blade.

  Kazuha jumped from the large red block and landed on a small purple one where his dagger was stuck. He pulled it free and launched another attack toward Jeffy.

  Unable to dodge because his foot was caught in the block, Jeffy chose to block the sharp tip of the dagger with the palm of his right hand.

  "Gah! Kazuha! I won't lose again!" Jeffy shouted in pain as he held back the stab.

  "I have a second surprise," Kazuha replied before creating another dagger from his right hand and driving it straight into Jeffy's forearm.

  Jeffy screamed in agony, but Kazuha wasn't done. He released the dagger stuck in Jeffy's palm, gripped Jeffy's hand tightly, and kicked his elbow—snapping the arm completely.

  Kazuha summoned several more daggers. He threw one downward and three others upward, to both sides of the pained Jeffy.

  Kazuha gave Jeffy one last smile before leaping off the edge and falling from the great height.