The punch easily connects with your face, leaving a red print in your cheek. It wasn't anything spectacular neither something meaningful, you directly see the face of your brother, completely contorted in rage.
Only opening one eye you can see that obsession of him, you never new the real reason why he is always picking on you, you suspect that is the doing of your Second Mother, yet… such feelings are not normal.
It hurts, your chest hurts, clinging your hand to your shirt you hold back your sadness; you seriously wanted to make amends with him, it was a dream of you to be a friend of Donatello.
There is such a greed with you, if it is so far from you, you want it the most.
"Haha… hahaha… pathetic thrash" he just laughs in delight seeing your hurt expression.
But your face doesn't hurt at all, it really surprises yourself because it doesn't seem like he was holding back, yet… you almost didn't receive any damage at all. You became stronger, so much stronger than what you were before, such disparity was something you didn't expect. Your body is so resilient and the punch was something negligible to you.
Really, X gave you something better than what he told you, there even might be more surprises.
"Brother…" you only manage to whisper in disappointment.
You take a step back, only because you both kept still with the same pose until people started to suspect that it was something weird. Donatello staggers a bit when you step back, not expecting you to only shrug his punch off.
"Y-you… how?" he looks at your eyes, grinding his teeth.
"Why?" you only spat, closing your eyes.
Whispers, once again, flow around the hall; the nobles are starting to talk about how you took the hit without any problem, some of them suspect that you were hiding your strength, others dismiss that notion stating that Donatello was holding back.
"Son, Exerux Greydarth. Since when you are at the last Rank of the Body stage?" the resolute voice of the king resounds in the hall, silencing the murmurs in a shock.
You close your eyes and nod in acknowledgement, everyone around gasps in surprise stirring their amusement.
"Last… did father said… last Rank?" he questions the king with his eyes on you, his pupils are out of place darting around as he is trying to composure himself.
So he explodes.
"Hahaha. Isn't it amusing third brother? So you were trying to embarrass me in front of other, right? All of this was in your plans so you could slap my face, right? Not just once, every time I tried to bring justice you were mocking me behind that stupid smile of your right?" his sinister smile grows to the side as he exposes that teeth of him.
"No, not at all!" you quickly wave both of your hands to both sides in denial "Donatello you are over…"
"And now you are just making more fun of myself in front of everyone. Not only that, you confirmed my suspicions"
He snickers in a creepy way, you are getting a bit flustered with the constant contortions in his face.
"You absorbed the eye! Everyone clearly knew that you were a thrash that was stuck at the third Rank. Hahaha, you see? You see?" he points while looking around the hall, searching for any sign of approval in their expressions.
And it works, once again everyone is looking at you with gazes full of hostility.
Not again, no matter what you do every time you get drowned even further into the ground, this sensation of getting strangled with an invisible in your neck overwhelms you… making you aware of your weaknesses.
There is no path to retreat, every time you push forward you get repelled. Is this the so called despair? Despair that seeps into your bones. You have no one to rely on, your enemies are everywhere not even your family is sparing you a chance.
"Bitter…"
You whisper with bitterness. You, in fact, love sweet things and can't handle any bitterness. This is so bitter, you hate it. Things shouldn't go that way, you only answer them with a smile.
"What? I can't hear your excuses if you whisper, thraaaash" your brother mocks you in his manner of a third-rate mastermind.
"It isn't like that at all" you close your eyes, containing your trembling "I refuse!" you tell, surprising in a laughable fashion "You have no proofs and I have an alibi!"
You feel a burning sensation in your heart, is this hope? You don't know, there is a lot of things you don't know. But there are also a lot of things you want, that's your greed.
"An alibi?" your father asks in contemplation.
"This was a blessing. A blessing from an unknown being, there have been legends that blessings are…"
"Stop with your blabbering! That's something that only exists in fairy tales for kids" your brother retorts, annoyed.
"Yet they come from somewhere! So what if I became stronger? Prove that I used the eye. For the kingdom's sake I don't even have Fire Attributed Qi"
Your brother steps back once again, yes, you slapped his face constantly. It is something you didn't intend to, but that's how things are. Maybe your bones with your brother will worsen with this but you will keep trying no matter how many times you need, this is your greed, and your hope.
"You stupid thrash. You dare to talk back, I told you to shut your mouth!" your brother is flaring for the second time, maybe he will punch you as he did the last one.
"No, you didn't!" you only retort raising a brow.
"AHHHH!" he shouts closing his eyes in frustration.
And you see it, ripples are formed in the air as the vacuum is stimulated, this is…
"Qi!" an elder shouts in surprise "So the rumors that the Second Prince broke through were right!"
Your brother is in the Qi Stage Rank 1, and he clearly looks like he wants to hurt you.
There is no more reasoning for him, he looks like he wants to beat you up for real this time.
"Donatello s…!" your father tries to stop him, but a man in his thirties with long silver hair stops him.
"My king" Ferdinand, Donatello's bodyguard interrupts him at the same times that he raises his arm "This is a necessary fight, yes the Third Prince is in the right, yet, he offended the Second Prince. This is now a formal duel between both of them" he glares at you with annoyance.
"Hmp… this was not even stablished…"
"Yet it is necessary, as I said. My king" he bows in an apology "Why do we fight so much? For power. Then even if you are in the right it is not anything if you don't have power to back you up, the Third Prince offended someone he shouldn't have to, what if he offends a greater enemy and brings calamity to the nation? He must learn to have some backing or face the consequences"
All of the nobles express their approval, even the most 'compassionate' ones.
This is what your mother hated of the world, the constant displays of power and the dark tyranny. She wanted to stablish harmony between the people despite their difference. Yet she died young.
"Brother. This doesn't have to be this way" you try to appeal for a negotiation.
"But I want it to be this way"
A very faint red aura surrounds the purple hair eleven years old kid, to the surrounding people this is nothing but two child playing with each other. But if you were in a normal Body Stage Rank 7 cultivation you could even get crippled with a fatal attack.
"Then… let it be this way" you can't back off then, he is so determined.
Your brother laughs once again and pounces at you. You only crouch slightly in a defensive stance, the one that you practiced so much, even if it rained.
You expected to be overwhelmed from the beginning to the end, yet… he is too slow.
You see it clearly, his steps are so slow that the speed is laughable. Your brother is captured in a motion that looks like he is running yet he only moves some millimeters at the time.
You feel a bit strained, at the same time that you notice a very vague trace of distortion in the air, just around your eyelids.
This is… an attack, no, a technique. A Qi technique!
When you broke through the next Stage of cultivation you receive illumination in a technique that suits your Dao, people call this the 'bestowment of heaven, this free techniques are what support the humanity in it's fight against the Beasts.
Body Stage cultivators can't use Qi, neither they can absorb it; they are only know to use Martial Arts without the integration of Energy Stimulation. But you are instinctively using Qi, but you don't have Qi.
And this technique… are you slowing time?
No, you can't move faster. Your perception increased. You feel a lot of adrenaline and your critical thinking was enhanced, you never heard of a technique like this one.
'I will call this [Panic Time]' you think to yourself, is your technique so you have the right to name it.
Donatello is raising his fists ready to attack your head once again, his posture is so open an his movements are clumsy at best. You are no better because the theory of fighting is so alienated to you thanks to your poor comprehension.
Yet you can clearly see where to attack now. He is your brother but you will defeat him so he can calm down.
Not doubting yourself anymore, you stomp the floor as you also run to his side and directly jab his chin, it is not hard at all even if he tries to defend himself because you can easily see him through.
The punch slowly connects and the kid receives it in its totality, your newfound strength surpasses even him as he gets launched back to the floor.
Your brother spits a bit of blood at the time he is falling to the floor, you keep the same posture of a jab as you see him fall.
Your head hurts. The [Panic Time] is so straining to yourself.
"Haa… haa…" you pant for a moment, catching your breath.
Your body feels so alienated the moment you enter [Panic Time] and there is no pain when you use it, yet you really overused your body in that punch and it hurts a bit.
"Ex! Xe! Rux!!!!!"
As if raised by some strings, your brother raises himself with some difficulty, but there is some sort of dangerous insanity in his gaze. He roars in anger, tearing apart his upper clothes with his hands.
The spectators gasp in surprise at the unsightly appearance of Donatello's chest. A palpitating eye is inserted on it, around it some kind of veins expand in him as if they were hugging him. Some of his flesh is charred around the eye of the Pyrowin, and it looks as if it were expanding.
The Fire Qi around your brother goes while and his fist lights on fire. A simple, yet disastrous, [Fire Fist] is formed in his right hand.
"Brother, no, scum" Donatello states without any trace of mockery "I will not let you off easily. I won't let you off!!!"
So he was the one that robbed the eye, trying to pin the blame of you. Not only that he absorbed the eye despite it being a reckless action, and it seems like it didn't go completely right. Those side effects are so visible and now are leading him into a rampage.
It is not safe anymore to stand in front of him, you don't have Qi to protect yourself from his attacks so any injury would be fatal, your could get yourself crippled… or even die, you can't discard that option anymore.
Someone will help you, right? This is not a simple duel anymore.
Yet, almost everyone is frozen on shock, not even that you are just half a meter away from your brother and they are so far away. No one can save you.