Somewhere in the world of Eden, a stunning woman sat facing a tree of gray leaves. Her eyes firmly closed and her body unmoving. It was hard to see if she was even breathing.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, staring at a small leaf on the tree. A small leaf that was beginning to turn a faint indigo color.
The woman smiled. "So it begins."
…
"Well then, in that case, let's see if you have the ability."
With those words, Jaime suddenly threw a vase that he hid under the counter, shattering it on Rella's face.
Rella wasn't expecting the flirtatious boy to suddenly become so serious and attack her, so she wasn't fast enough to block the vase.
Jaime didn't wait to see the vase connect before vaulting the counter. With his hands on the counter, Jaime delivered a two-legged kick to Rella's exposed abdomen. Using the momentum of vaulting the counter to add power to the kick, it became strong enough to make Rella bend over, grabbing her stomach.
Jaime didn't wait for Rella to recover as he swiftly kicked the side of her knee, attempting to shatter it.
Unfortunately for Jaime, Rella's body was far tougher than a normal human, so her knee didn't break. But, it did still buckle as pain shot up Rella's body, making her cry out.
Rella's body tipped toward Jaime as her hands instinctively went to her knee, leaving her abdomen wide open again.
Jaime didn't hesitate and drove his foot into her abdomen, in the same place he had previously kicked.
All of the air was pushed out of Rella's body as she flew back, crashing hard into one of the walls and causing several vases and urns to shatter on the floor. Some even fell and hit her, shattering over her body.
Everyone watching was shocked by Jaime's ruthless display.
Timothee's mouth was agape as he watched in awe. Aisha couldn't believe that this was the same mischievous and flirtatious boy. Even Jenna had come out from behind the counter to see what all of the commotion was about.
The shop owner was probably one of the most surprised people there.
That girl was a cultivator from one of the biggest sects in the region! And here was a mortal boy, fighting her fearlessly and even winning. There was only one gripe in his heart, did you have to kick her into the shelves?
Jaime sighed, looking at Rella with slight regret in his expression. "It pains me to hurt beautiful women, especially when it was me who was in the wrong to begin with. Just stay down, I don't want to seriously injure my potential future wife."
Rella was in shock as she lay on the ground. Never in a million years did she believe that this mortal boy would have so much ability! She had expected him to become subservient and start apologizing, not attack her! And, so viciously at that.
She hadn't even been able to recover her breath from the initial kick, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground with vases shattering all around her.
However, hearing Jaime's words, the fury inside of her flared up, pushing all of the pain to the back of her mind.
Rella stood, but when she placed her weight on her left leg, the knee buckled, and she almost fell back down. Gritting her teeth, Rella faced Jaime. He had only beaten her so badly because she underestimated him, and he had viciously surprise-attacked her. But now, without the use of her leg, even if she didn't underestimate him, it would still be a tough fight.
From their brief exchange, she could already feel the power behind Jaime's blows. It was nearing the limit of what mortals could achieve and wasn't that far off of her power, as she mainly focused on speed.
However, with her leg being unusable, Rella's biggest advantage was gone.
Rella knew that she had to strike decisively and end the fight quickly before Jaime could learn her moves. From the way he attacked, she could tell that he was proficient in fighting techniques, and she didn't want to see what he was like after he figured her out.
With a strategy in mind, Rella faked putting weight on her knee, making it look like she was trying to use her leg.
Rella began to tip forward in a feint before using all of the power in her right leg and launching herself at Jaime.
Jaime watched the girl carefully as she got up, watching every movement she made, waiting for her to strike. When he saw her put pressure on her injured leg, he knew it was a feint and positioned himself for her attack.
Rella shot out at Jaime, planning to land a serious blow on that smug face of his.
To sell the feint, Rella was forced to look down at the floor, like she was truly falling, but with her speed, she didn't think it would matter–especially when they were in a close-quarters environment like this small shop.
Swinging her fist, what Rella expected to feel was the impact of her knuckles on Jaime's face, instead, she felt a strong impact on her abdomen where she was already injured.
The impact knocked the wind out of her, forcing her to look at the boy.
Jaime had barely dodged the punch before driving his fist into the same place he had been targeting the whole time.
Rella panicked, throwing a wide punch at the boy who had just dodged her attack. Her reckless punch had plenty of power but little control.
Jaime ducked the punch, using the opening it created to once more land a serious jab into Rella's abdomen.
Rella couldn't hold the feeling rising in her throat as she grabbed her knees, vomiting onto the floor.
She had just eaten a large meal after finally making it to safety, and now it was coming back to bite her.
Jaime stepped to the side, standing to his full height and sighing as he watched this. Jaime knew that right now, the girl was completely defenseless.
Taking advantage of her current state, Jaime put his hand on Rella's back, driving his knee into her abdomen with precision.
The hit forced Rella to vomit more fiercely as she fell onto her hands and knees. Her hand landed in the bile, causing her to slip and fall. Rella barely managed to avoid faceplanting into the pool but still hit her head on the floor.
Rella's vision was spotty, and she couldn't breathe, her stomach and throat burning from the bile. Between her dry heaving, Rella was trying to gather any sort of breath, but she wasn't able to. Tears were streaming down her cheeks from the pain and the panic of not being able to breathe.
Timothee and the shop owner both had their mouths agape. "He really did it." The shop owner mumbled.
Aisha, watching the whole thing, felt extremely bad for the girl. She was now looking at Jaime in a new light, the innocent little flirt image had been fully dismantled. She was about to go and help the girl, but Jaime moved faster.
Jaime knelt next to the girl still on her hands and knees. She was crying and hyperventilating, not able to calm herself down.
Seeing her state, Jaime gently began to rub her back in a comforting way. "Shh. Just breathe. You need to relax." He continued to rub her back. "Focus on breathing. In and out, in and out."
Rella slowly stopped hyperventilating as she focused, drawing in raspy breaths.
"That's it. Just close your eyes and keep focusing on your breathing. In and out. In and out."
Once Rella was a bit more stable, Jaime supported her, helping her stand up. Rella was still panicked from not being able to breathe moments ago, so she didn't even think about pushing away the only thing keeping her calm.
Jaime had a sad and distant smile as he gently lifted his shirt, wiping the vomit and snot from Rella's face.
Tears fell from Rella's eyes as all of the emotions and adrenaline were leaving her system.
Jaime pulled her head against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her in a hug and comfortingly rubbing her back. "Shh. It's okay. You're safe."
Rella began sobbing into the fabric of Jaime's shirt, letting out all of her pent-up frustrations from not only this horrible trip but her whole life. Rella wasn't thinking about how Jaime had just beat her. At the moment, Jaime's firm embrace felt like the safest place in the world.
Rella's body wracked against Jaime's as she sobbed. He kept rubbing her back comfortingly as he held her tight, resting his chin on her head.
Aisha watched in silence for a moment until Jaime looked over. Seeing his handsome face and the sad smile on his lips, Aisha couldn't help but sigh. She then turned and looked at Timothee who was excitedly bothering the shop owner.
"Naw Naw. Look here, old man. We don't owe you squat for the vases." Timothee argued. "That crazy chick is the one who broke them all, not us."
"That wild boy kicked her into the shelf and she broke them all!" The shop owner countered.
"Exactly. SHE broke them all."
"What about the one that he threw at her?"
"She just wasn't quick enough to catch it. My brother was clearly only trying to toss it to her so that she could look at it."
The owner looked at Timothee for a long moment. "You still gotta pay!"
And thus, the argument continued, much to Aisha's dismay.
After several minutes, Rella finally began to calm down and stopped crying. Pulling back from Jaime's hug, she looked up at him with wet eyes. "Why did you stop? Why help me? I was really planning on killing you, you know? Why spare me?"
Jaime sighed, wiping the tears from her face with his thumbs. "You said the strong get whatever they want, right? And all I want is to see beautiful women smile at me. Seeing pretty girls in pain breaks my heart. It's that simple."
Jaime then gently kissed Rella's forehead, whispering against her skin. "I hope you can indulge my selfish request."
Jaime pulled away from Rella after that and began walking away.
Rella snapped out of her daze, quickly calling out to him. "Wait! What's your name?"
Jaime stopped and smiled, turning around. "Jaime, and what would yours be?"
"Rella."
"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Jamie chuckled. "Well, Rella. If fate brought us together, you could stick around to find out why. All of us are a bit green, and it would be nice to have a guide."
Rella looked at the pretty boy's face for a few seconds, dazed by his glimmering white smile. "S-sure. If you don't mind."
Jaime chuckled. "I would never mind being around a girl as pretty as you." Holding his hand out toward her, Jaime smiled. "Welcome to the team."