As he lets go of me, he stares at me. His eyes almost seem scared.
"Dante, I could've sworn you died."
I laugh at his words and nod.
"Well, I did. A man named Blankk brought me back to life. After that, I became a lot stronger."
I reply, Klandiz obviously confused.
"I'd heard rumors that you had killed one of the stronger members of WolfPack, is it true?"
He asks while obviously standing on guard. He pulls his left foot back, almost getting ready to fight.
"Haha, yea. He disrespected the memories of our family, so I finished him off."
Out of the corner of my eye, an arrow is launched towards me. Without looking, I hold out my hand and catch it, instantly snapping it. I look to my right to see 3 people on wolfback with bows and short swords.
"Y-you bastard!"
One man screams as he and his wolf lunge toward me. Before they reach me, Klandiz pulls an axe from the woodpile and throws it into the ground in front of them. They quickly stop and look to him.
"Klandiz, what is the meaning of this?! You know who that is, right!?"
He yells as Klandiz laughs nervously.
"Yea, he's my brother."
The men stare at us blankly before readying their swords and lowering their gaze.
"Klandiz, he just killed everyone in the main guild house."
One man says as Klandiz looks at me, making a clearly fake smile.
"Dante, you can get rid of them if you want."
He says slowly. I can clearly tell his voice is shaking. I nod and pop my shoulder and start walking towards them. They all quickly lunge at me, slicing at me and their wolves biting at me. With ease I dodge every attack, and counterattack. One punch kills each of them, splattering them against the bright green grass. As I sigh and look at my bloody hand, a notice appears.
[-240 HP]
[+240 HP]
I stare at it as my heart sinks. I look over my shoulder to see a dagger jammed against my neck, but not even scratching me. Klandiz stands, frozen with fear, with his dagger placed against my neck and slowly letting off pressure.
"Klandiz, why?"
I ask softly, my heart aching. Klandiz clenches his jaw and stabs my neck several more times.
[-240 HP]
[-240 HP]
[-240 HP]
[-240 HP]
[-240 HP]
[+1,200 HP]
My heart aches deeply as I feel my eyes start stinging.
"I always hated you."
Klandiz manages to whisper a few words under his breath. I slowly turn around, my chest feeling heavy.
"No. You didn't. You didn't betray us."
I mumble to myself as he attempts to stab my eye. Before his blade gets halfway to my face, I pinch the blade and break it off at the handle. I then place my hand up and stop him from hitting my face.
[-160 HP]
[+160 HP]
"Dante, I wanted to be an adventurer so badly. You have no idea how much it hurt, how much it stung being told by father and mother that I couldn't follow my dream. You don't know how bad it felt having to keep an eye on you, making sure a stray falling apple hadn't killed you."
His words are soft, almost choked up. I can't see his eyes with his head lowered, but I see a tear drop from his cheek.
"There was only one way to escape my damnation. Only one way to escape our failure of a family."
He mumbles as he pushes as hard as he can against my hand, pushing his own feet through the dirt and grass. He struggles, almost shaking while pushing. My heart pounds and hurts as I lower my head.
"You...you are the reason they died?"
The words coming from my mouth strike me, it doesn't feel real.
"I didn't want to believe it."
I whisper, taking a punch from his other hand to my face.
[-160 HP]
[+160 HP]
"I was going to grow stronger! Then, I was going to kill WolfPack and avenge you! I would've been the hero, after dropping the deadweight!"
He screams as I look at him.
"Do you even hear yourself? At what point does this idea sound good? At what point did you think this plan would work?"
I feel myself start shaking with a mixture of emotions: sadness, confusion, anger, and others that have no words to describe them. Klandiz strikes me once more before backing away.
"I never thought."
He stands still, looking at the dagger I broke.
"I never thought you would grow this strong. Why couldn't you be this strong when they were alive? This would've never happened if you hadn't been so weak."
He says, defending himself. I stare at him, almost light headed.
"You got them killed."
I mumble as I take a deep breath. He quickly runs passed me and grabs the axe he threw earlier.
"And then you tried to sacrifice the people that helped you, just to kill me?"
I ask as he runs towards me. I feel a tear roll down my cheek as my left arm suddenly tingles and gets warm. Klandiz slams his axe into my throat, but it doesn't even damage my skin.
[-320 HP]
[+320 HP]
His eyes light up with fear as I grab his axe and throw it beyond either of our lines of sight in under a second.
"They loved you, they trusted you."
I mumble quietly, my left arm continuously pulsing and throbbing. He screams and starts punching wildly towards me, but I easily dodge every attack.
"You don't know what it was like to have to make sure you were ok! Every day! Every Hour! I was assigned to make sure you were ok! I was a glorified baby sitter!"
He screams while swinging wildly.
"My dreams!"
He stops and sobs.
"They meant nothing. It didn't matter what I said or did."
He falls to his knees as I stare down at him, left arm almost feeling like it's on fire.
"Why didn't you just wait until I died naturally?"
I ask as he looks up at me.
"You were supposed to die that day, but you came back. It seems either way, I was never meant to be free from you. My greatest burden, and the greatest burden on our family."
We stare at each other, both upset and hurting.
"Dante, dad felt embarrassed to have you as a son. Mom felt disappointed to give birth to you. Gregory felt absolute shame from having you as a brother. You were the curse on our family."
He slowly stands up and takes a deep breath. I stare at him, almost crying from his words.
"Even though you dragged our family down, they still loved you. I refuse to be part of that, you aren't my brother."
He says as he straightens his body.
"Just go vanish and die somewhere, just leave me alone."
He says as he starts to walk by me and towards his house.
"I'm sorry."
I say clearly as he looks at me.
"What are yo-."
With one swift motion, I unsheath my sword and cut his head off.
"Skill: Flurry X42."
I slice his body to pieces and wipe my blade of on a piece of his clothing.
"For being family, I made it quick."
I mumble, feeling no emotions from killing my brother. Though seconds before I was full of emotions, they were no longer present.
I was void of all feelings towards him; he was no longer family, just another enemy.