The Promise of Tomorrow

Chapter 40

As night passed, Y/n was resting his back on a tree, waiting for Ellen to come by. His eyes were closed yet he showed concentration, ready to attack anyone who tries to strike him. Soon enough, he felt a presence and immediately opened his eyes, and he saw Origami. "Oh, hey. What's up?" he asked as he seemed to be more at ease seeing Origami. "I wanted to see how you're doing. Don't worry, I won't interrupt your fight, and I will make sure it stays that way," she reassured as Y/n smirked at the statement Origami gave.

"So you think I'm not one foot on the grave, huh? Well, do as you wish. By the way, uhhh here," Y/n spoke as he grabbed something from his pocket and handed over something to Origami. "You'll need this more than I do," he said and then heard the Spacequake Alarm. "That's my cue to get lost. Stay alive," Origami requested and flew off somewhere far off, leaving Y/n's sight. 

Immediately, purple Reiryoku spread out like fog to reveal his presence to his enemy. Soon enough, a lone presence appeared and spoke. "I see that you want to deal with me alone. How arrogant of you," Ellen remarked as Y/n grinned at the fact Ellen was berating him. "Oh trust me, I could say the same to you, coming here to mess with my pals," he retorted and turned to face Ellen and dared to take a step closer to her.

"I know threats will be something that will not deter you, so how about we make a bet? If I win, you leave Johannes alone. If you win, you get this," Y/n announced the conditions of the bet, and showed Ellen the pendant, brimming with power which caused Ellen to immediately grab for it. Unfortunately for her, the pendant scalded her hand, causing her to reel her arm away.

"I knew you would do that. That's why I made a protective mechanism on it. weaklings like you don't get an easy way out with me," Y/n bragged, belittling Ellen as his lesser. "You're an intolerable child. I shall punish you like one to learn your lesson by snuffing out your life," she growled and had enough of Y/n's upstart attitude. "Hey, I don't like you either. That being said..." Y/n then dashed in to Ellen's range after wearing the necklace. His expression darkened, and his face was one with pure malice and intent to hurt. He then declared a threat by declaring,

"You won't get back to DEM in one piece."

Taking Ellen by surprise, Y/n swung wide, hitting her on the shoulder. Recoiling back from the force of the blow, Ellen immediately tried stabilizing herself and immediately started to fly away as soon as she saw Y/n about to swing again. Relentlessly, Y/n then immediately chased after her and the two had an exchange of quick strikes of jabs, kicks, thrusts, and slashes whcih seemed to miss. One moment both of them found an opportunity to counter each other and both capitalized on the chance, leading to a dual exchange with Ellen's blade grazing Y/n in the face while his fist grazed Ellen's.

'It seems like our skill gap is pretty even. Tch, I never thought he almost got a lucky shot in by choosing to fight in close quarters,' Ellen made a self rapport in her own thoughts with what was happening. She didn't expect Y/n to fight it out on close quarters, which was her own plan to hinder his observation. Despite this minor setback, she thought of it as a blessing, not needing to make an effort to pursue him. 

Immediately, they then ensued another infight, but this time Ellen seemed to be able to maneuver around Y/n's attacks and became more on the offensive. However, within the exchange of hits, something felt off. She felt that despite her having the ease of maneuvering his strikes, there was a feeling of being watched as Y/n's expression was calm rather than being frustrated.