The Other [3]

"Don't bandits trot around in small groups?" Sunyoung pondered. "Why are there this many of them attacking a singular caravan?"

Including the able-bodied merchants, the caravan had around thirty people fighting back against the forty bandits.

"Even if they come out victorious... the number of members they'll lose surely wouldn't outweigh the gains from the two carriages."

Then a thought came to mind.

'Unless there's something of such extreme value that the bandits are willing to lose the majority of their members if it means that they can acquire that valuable item.'

A few examples of such items he was considering were an elixir, a sword belonging to a legend from the past, or perhaps a rare cultivation manual.

"If it's any of those three then yeah, the gains would outweigh the loss."

It all started to make sense for Sunyoung including why the caravan was traveling in such a large number just to escort two carriages.

As he suspected, the merchants were indeed transporting something of extremely high value.

But he was only partially correct because rather than an object, the actual value in one of the two carriages was a person.

With her arms wrapped around her legs, the side of her head leaning against the carriage wall, eyes gazing at the outside world through the cracks of the window — was a little girl.

Opposite to the chaos outside the carriage, she was extremely quiet making it seem as if the carriage was void of life.

She wasn't quiet because she was fearing her impending doom, this was simply her personality.

Sometimes she would remain so silent and still for such long periods that people in the same room as her would forget that she was there with them.

Sulli was her name.

Her white hair which flowed smoothly like silk was longer than her body itself; she had blue eyes that looked like balls of ice and her skin was a snowy pale color.

She looked like an ice sculpture had come to life.

As members of both parties began perishing one at a time, Sulli was observing them as though she was an unrelated third party even though she was the main cause of everything.

'Maybe it won't be so bad,' she thought to herself. 'I've struggled enough.'

She had been running around like a headless chicken for years, clutching onto straws, escaping death by mere centimeters each time.

For years, she refused to die, doing whatever it took to survive.

But even she, regardless of how much she desired to live, would eventually get sick and tired of the constant struggle.

'It doesn't seem like my men will be able to win this battle,' she concluded as she watched them getting outnumbered and outmatched by the bandits that had ambushed them.

How long had the bandits been following their tracks?

It seemed too convenient with their size for it to just be a coincidence. 

These bandits might have been following them since they entered the desert.

"This is it. This is how my story ends," she muttered a pessimistic conclusion. 

Although she was a child, by the harsh environments she had grown up in, she matured faster than most children and understood the concept of death as well as any adult.

Even with that knowledge, despite the fact death had a hand on her shoulder, she didn't cry.

Sulli merely turned around, not wanting to watch the pointless struggle of her men outside any further.

The outcome of the battle was already determined.

There was nothing left for her to do than await her death which was crawling closer to her every passing second.

Closing her eyes, she didn't expect them to open ever again. If there was an afterlife as some cultures she had been around believed in — then maybe she'll open her eyes again in there.

"Zero, what are the offs of me coming out of this alive without using your cloning ability?" Sunyoung asked his alien companion.

[45.89%.]

"Oh wow. Those odds aren't bad," he grinned. "It's like flipping a coin."

As he rode down the hill of sand with a sword in one hand and Kiara's rein in the other, he saw a few members of the caravan turning their attention towards him.

"I'm not an enemy," he wanted to tell them but he knew it was a useless thing to say especially since there was nothing about him that warranted their trust.

He just had to inform them on which side he was on by his actions.

"W-Who is that boy?"

"Is he with us?"

"Men! Be cautious! There might be more on the way!"

"Hey! Pay attention to the bandit in front of you! We can't afford to get distracted!"

"But what if he's an enemy?"

"...Those in the back, make sure to deal with it! Those in front, don't lose focus! We are going to get out of this alive!"

Sulli was no longer paying attention to the battle but it wasn't as though she could block out sounds from entering her ear.

Naturally, she was hearing the words her men were yelling.

'An ally?' she wondered, understanding that an unknown figure was approaching them based on their words. 

Sulli then shook her head.

'Impossible. I've barely managed to get this many people on my side after spending every last one of my coins.'

There couldn't be an ally she wasn't aware of. 

She wanted to scoff at herself for even for a split considering that there was someone on her side who wasn't being paid by her.

Her body which had subconsciously turned towards the window, she forced it back around to how it was a few seconds prior.

"..."

A few seconds passed by.

"..."

Curiosity got the better of her and she looked out of the window.

Opening her eyes, through the cracks, she saw from a distance a boy on his horse riding towards them.

"...He looks to be the same age as me."

Wondering if he was with the bandits, she couldn't help but feel that it was a shame that someone this young had already fallen into the terrible world of crimes and banditry.

But simultaneously, she was also relieved that the boy wasn't someone she recognized.

If he had been an ally as she had naively considered for a moment, his ride to battle was nothing more than throwing his life away.

Sulli now had the resolve to die but she didn't want to leave the world with lingering regrets about how she caused another child like herself to die as well.

Not wanting to see that kid's death, regardless of which side he was on, Sulli turned back around and closed her eyes once more.

As he got closer, Sunyoung saw a few blades being turned towards him.

Ignoring them, he had Kiara come to a sudden halt. Leaping off, he tapped his horse a few times and listened to it running away.

As Kiara was a smart horse, Sunyoung didn't worry about it vanishing off into the distance. If he died, the horse would continue living out the rest of its days as a free animal or get captured by humans and if he survived, it would return to him.

"Don't get any closer boy! I don't want to kill you!" one of the merchants informed him.

Grabbing a dagger from his back, the grip of the handles in the merchants' and bodyguards' hands got tighter.

As he threw the dagger, it traveled past the men who were nervously anticipating his move.

The dagger whistled through the air and planted itself firmly in the forehead of a bandit.

Then he threw his other dagger and the same thing occurred.

Instantly, upon his arrival, two members of the bandit's party had died, making the battle between the two groups just the slightest more evenly matched.

Realizing that he didn't have any intentions to harm them, the merchants and bodyguards informed each other that the third party, the little boy who was a stranger to all of them, was on their side.

"Don't attack! He's with us!"

"Do you know who he is?" a bodyguard asked.

"No, but he's an ally so who gives a shit!? Just focus on surviving and killing these bastards in front of you!"

With both hands on his sword, Sunyoung blocked two attacks from his opponent, found an opening, and slid his blade across the stomach of the bandit.

Like a waterfall, the organs began spilling out.

Splash. Sploosh.

The sound of the organs hitting the ground was revolting to Sunyoung who had to hold back from vomiting as he turned his attention towards another enemy.

Watching him from the other side of the carriage wall was Sulli. 

She wanted to yell out to the boy, telling him to run away and save his own life. She wanted to tell him that there was no use fighting against these bandits and not to be a hero, especially for no apparent reason.

But she couldn't let out a sound because as she watched his movements, she was mesmerized by how perfect they were.

Each time he swung his sword, it felt like she was watching her father.

No, even her father who was a powerful ki-user had some flaws in his blade.

This boy, on the other hand, everything he swung was perfection. It felt like she was watching someone who had been swinging the sword for decades, learning numerous styles, and then combining it into one perfect style.

But that wasn't possible. He looked no older than fifteen years at the very most.

There was only one answer then.

Pure talent. 

Talent that she desired and needed for her goals.

Her acceptance of death was quickly replaced by a greed to live once more.

Contrary to what Sulli had assumed of Sunyoung, he didn't think of himself as this hero who was helping out these merchants selflessly.

Firstly, he was hoping by assisting them, he'd get an accurate direction of where he was heading which would help him save on travel time.

Secondly, even though there did exist consequences to his death, he wasn't like others who would die permanently so it wasn't as if he was putting himself at the same amount of risk that Sulli believed he was.

And thirdly, which was the most important part but subconsciously he hadn't considered it because it was an inherently evil thought, Sunyoung wanted to kill more people as fast as possible.

Not only would he get stronger in battle but his proficiency in wielding certain weapons would also develop as he clashed with the bandits and observed the techniques of everyone around him.

Yes, each swing of his sword was perfect.

Not a single flaw existed in his blade anymore. But there were a multitude of perfect styles that each weapon possessed.

If he were to attempt a different style of the sword, countless flaws would appear in it. Flaws he could only erase by trial and error.

As the number of bandits was cut in half from what it was originally, Sunyoung suddenly switched to a different style.

"What's he doing?" wondered Sulli who saw the little boy outside change his stance. His movements were no longer clean and it felt as though he had regressed tremendously.

But as he progressed forward, one by one, the flaws in his attacks and defense were vanishing.

Gulp.

The speed at which he was growing and fixing his mistakes was inhumane.

She was wrong.

He wasn't talented.

No — to call him talented would be an insult to him.

What she was watching was nothing short of a monster. A monster who was born to dominate on the battlefield.

[Congratulations Sunyoung. You've now mastered three sword styles.]

Although they were ki-less sword styles which were easier to master than the ones used by ki-users, it didn't make his feat any less impressive.

'Thank you,' he told Zero as he switched to another style.

This one was even more flawed than the previous one as he had only seen glimpses of it used by an imperial team leader.

If he had observed more of its usage in real battle, Sunyoung would've understood the fundamentals that built the foundation of the style better but now, it was up to him to fill in the pieces that he was missing based on his knowledge of the weapon he had subconsciously acquired.

"A third style?" Sulli quietly yelled.