"Well, well, well...if it isn't the one and only Fei Wu Kai!"
This arrogant voice belonged to the young master of the Li family, Li Mu Shen. Qing Yue and I turned around to face him. Standing beside him, hugging his arm, was my supposed-to-be fiancee, Lan Gui Ying.
"Do you need me for something?" I asked cautiously.
"No, not much...but do you wanna have a little chat?" Li Mu Shen said with a devilish grin.
Qing Yue cut in. "Third young master Li, big brother Xuan Kai and I are on our way back to the school. Our lunch break is almost over."
"I go to the same school as you guys, unfortunately, so I know what you mean," he replied, putting heavy emphasis on the 'unfortunately'. "But it's alright, surely you can spare some time."
"We can't," I said coldly. "Please excuse us."
As Qing Yue and I turned around and began to walk away, a small laugh came from behind us.
"Hahaha! Who said you could go?" my fiancee, Lan Gui Ying said as she seductively stroked Li Mu Shen's face. "Unless my boyfriend tells you to scram, you aren't allowed to leave."
Hey hey now... seriously? Calling another man your boyfriend right in front of your fiancee? Even though I don't care much, we are technically still engaged in name. Upon hearing this, I turned around once more. However, when I did this time, I immediately noticed the flame in Li Mu Shen's hand. He grinned deviously, and my eyes widened as I realized what he was going to do.
"Level One Fire Magic - Flame Lotus!" he yelled. The flame from his hand had taken the shape of a lotus and was heading for Qing Yue.
"Hmph... Level One Blessing Magic - Font of Protection!"
BOOM!
The beautiful flower of fire exploded upon contact with the translucent green dome Qing Yue had erected around herself and I, and we remained unharmed.
"Heheh, just because I'm a support mage, doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to me," Qing Yue said with a smirk, folding her arms as the dome faded away. In response, however, Li Mu Shen merely snickered.
"Yeah... you, maybe not. You're from the Qing Family anyway, so hurting you would get even me into some trouble. But your useless big brother there? Heh... no one would give a fuck even if he DIED, HAHA!"
"...!"
Suddenly, I felt two vines wrap around my ankles, and my eyes widened in surprise. I didn't even see them coming. Then, I glanced up and saw Lan Gui Ying's hand sending vines into the ground.
It was her... that bitch... no wonder she was so quiet-!
I wanted to break free, but no matter how much I trained my physical body, I was powerless against magic. The vines flung me towards Grange Grill, and I smashed into the window painfully.
"Ngh-!"
"Big Brother Xuan Kai!" Qing Yue cried in worry, but there was nothing she could do as Li Mu Shen fired off another attack at her. "Tch-!"
Luckily, Qing Yue was quite nimble with her small frame, and managed to get out of the way. But she couldn't just dodge forever...
"Shit..." I muttered under my breath. A sharp pain in my chest signalled that a few ribs were broken, along with my back from the impact of crashing into the window. I struggled to get to my feet. Although the jewellery shop employees looked terrified, no one was going to stop Li Mu Shen. That would be equivalent to offending the Li family.
Then, someone walked out of the hotel we had just been in. He seemed to be an employee there.
He walked over to Li Mu Shen, and spoke. "Sir, please refrain from fighting here. You are damaging property."
Li Mu Shen shot him a glare, but the employee, surprisingly, did not back down.
"The Li family is a shareholder of your hotel. You can't tell me what to do," Li Mu Shen snarled. "If you want to talk to me, get your damned manager."
"Sir-"
"Get. Your. Manager," Li Mu Shen continued, not even giving the poor employee a chance to talk.
The young man gritted his teeth, but still did as told, because this was a valid request. He entered the hotel, and after a short while, he came outside again - this time with a taller, older man in tow.
"Are you the owner here?" Li Mu Shen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A-Ah, third young master Li...yes, I am the owner of this hotel. How can I help you?" the newcomer asked, sweat forming on his forehead at the sight of Li Mu Shen.
"Well, your employee here told me to 'stop' doing what I had been doing," Li Mu Shen sneered. "I hope you know...my family can shut your business down at any time we want."
The man stiffened, and quickly bowed down a couple of times in apology. "Y-Yes, third young master Li!"
Then, turning to the brave - or perhaps stupid - employee from earlier, the man continued. "...You're fired."
The youth dropped his jaw in shock. "W-What?! Why?"
"...You're fired!" the man repeated, before turning back to Li Mu Shen, now with a smile on his face.
"Er...third young master Li, feel free to continue doing whatever it is you had been doing earlier."
Li Mu Shen nodded, satisfied, as the youthful employee stood dumbfounded, still bewildered by what just happened...until the older man grabbed him by the ear and pulled him inside the hotel.
I mustered up all my strength and pulled myself off the ground. As much as I knew I was weak, I still wanted to appear strong in front of Qing Yue. The overprotective syndrome all big brothers suffer from, I suppose...
Each step took everything I had. The pain in my chest and back was unbearable, but I still kept walking. My eyelids felt heavy and my legs felt like they belonged to someone else. But I still kept pushing through. I promised to protect her...
After 7 to 8 steps, I collapsed. My legs didn't want to respond any further. Qing Yue came rushing over to me out of concern, tears in her eyes.
"Big Brother Xuan Kai! Are you alright?" She asked, on the verge of crying.
"...I'm not dead yet, now am I?" I responded to the best of my abilities.
Li Mu Shen and Lan Gui Ying had come over as well, although for a different reason.
"Just some Level One Magic, and it's already enough to almost kill you?" Li Mu Shen asked with a laugh.
"Hey now, don't blame him," Lan Gui Ying joined in. "He has no way of fighting back, after all... ha!"
Qing Yue couldn't take it longer, and burst out in tears. "Why... why must all of you target my big brother like this...? What has he ever done to hurt you? Why can't you just leave him alone...?"
"Because it's fun," Li Mu Shen said with a shrug. "Why else?"
"Why... just... why..."
"Enough... Qing Yue... it's useless..." I breathed with all my remaining strength, then glared up at the two assholes who did this to me, and flashed a smile. "Mark my words, you small-dicked moron... I'll kill you, one day. And as for you, leeching slut... I'll put to good use those medieval punishment tactics used on women..."
"Oh, I'm so scared!" He said sarcastically, completely unaffected my threats. "I, Li Mu Shen, am going to be killed by a weak piece of shit with no magic at all!"
Then, he turned to Qing Yue, who knelt beside me, resting my head on her thighs. "Y'know... you're quite cute, young miss of the Qing Family, even when you're crying. I could take you as my wife as well, you know? You'll be able to enjoy luxuries and privileges you'll never be able to have with this piece of trash."
"Even if Big Brother Xuan Kai really is trash... he's still miles better than you," Qing Yue replied harshly, glaring at Li Mu Shen with cold fury in her eyes that was rare for her. "If you think I'm going to marry you, you'll have to marry my corpse."
"You have a sharp tongue," Li Mu Shen chuckled. "But I gotta say... I'm into that kinda thing, heh. Big Brother Yi Fei is going to be marrying Yu An Xue in the future, so I will marry you. Isn't it great? The top two beauties of Shenzhen, you and Yu An Xue, both getting married into the Li Family. Balanced, as all things should be."
"Did someone say my name?" A cold yet elegant voice cut in, quite loudly.
"Huh? Which bitch wants to disturb my fun?!" Li Mu Shen demanded arrogantly, looking around like a moron.
Lan Gui Ying pulled on his sleeve and gulped. "U-Um...it's the eldest daughter of the Yu family, Yu An Xue. Look behind you."
Not believing what she stated, Li Mu Shen turned around. Indeed, standing in front of him was one of the top beauties of Shenzhen and also the eldest daughter of the Yu family, Yu An Xue.
"Ah...Lady Yu. What brings you here today?" he asked politely, immediately changing his tone.
"Who...is this 'bitch' who...'disturbed' your fun?" she quoted him, expecting a good explanation.
"That was...er, her! Yes! Her!" he said hurriedly and pointed at the girl who had just helped him - Lan Gui Ying.
"Huh?! Wait, what?!" Lan Gui Ying looked shocked.
"Yes! You're the bitch! Get out of here!" Li Mu Shen exclaimed, desperate to cover up his mistake. While he wasn't too afraid of the Qing family, he was afraid of Yu An Xue, simply because if he hurt her in some way, Li Yi Fei would kick his ass.
"Drop the act," Yu An Xue interrupted the duo harshly. "Both of you...leave. Now."
Li Mu Shen and Lan Gui Ying both were desperate to escape the situation, so they complied happily and ran off.
"... Thank you," Qing Yue said with a soft smile, wiping the tears from her eyes. "They aren't afraid of the Qing Family as we are the weakest, so I can't persuade them to leave... but you can."
"... Don't worry about it. You seem okay, but..." Yu An Xue then glanced at the sorry heap of a human on the floor - me. "... What about you? Are you able to walk?"
By this time, I was too tired to say anything. So I was grateful when Qing Yue answered for me. "Big Brother Xuan Kai... he's quite hurt, after being flung into that pane of glass. There are cuts all over his body. I applied some Blessing Magic already, but I'm not sure if it will be enough..."
"I see..." Yu An Xue trailed off. "Anyway... we should bring him to a hospital."
She then pulled out her phone and dialed a number. Qing Yue nodded, and that was the last thing I saw before I finally closed my eyes.
*****
When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital bed. As I blinked my sleepiness away, I noticed that someone was holding my hand. I looked down and saw Qing Yue sitting beside my bed, resting her head on the sheets. It was truly a beautiful sight. I slowly began to remember everything that had transpired.
"That bastard...Li Mu Shen...I'll fucking kill you one day," I swore to myself.
That must've disturbed Qing Yue, as she groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes with one hand, the other still clutching mine.
"Sorry. Did I wake you?" I asked.
"Big Brother Xuan Kai! You woke up!" She exclaimed, completely ignoring my question. She crawled closer as tears began forming in her eyes and wrapped her arms around me.
I coughed a few times. "... Oh, I won't be up for long if you... keep... choking me... like that..."
Qing Yue, hearing this, quickly loosened her grip and backed away a little. "S-Sorry... I just got a bit too excited, that's all."
I glanced around the hospital room, but didn't see the person I was looking for.
"Lady Yu... where is she?"
"Lady Yu left already. But... we shouldn't have needed her in the first place. I mean... sorry, Big Brother Xuan Kai. I'm from one of the Four Great Families, and yet... I'm completely powerless in front of Li Mu Shen..."
"Don't blame yourself for what happened. Even if you can't convince them to do anything, at least they won't dare to hurt you."
"Big Brother Xuan Kai..." She sobbed.
"If anything, blame me for being too weak," I continued. "But I promise you... I will become stronger in the future. I know that sounds like some empty promise of a kid trying to become a hero, but when I was younger, my parents told me I was destined for greatness. That sounds cheesy, yeah, but for whatever reason, it is one of the most memorable memories I have of them."
"I believe in you!" Qing Yue said happily. She wiped her tears away and let me go. "Once you get stronger, Big Brother Xuan Kai... it'll be your turn to protect me, mkay?"
"Of course," I replied with a smile, then stroked her beautiful silver hair. "Now then...shall we head back?"