When I re-opened my eyes I found myself at a burial where everyone was dressed in black except Laura and I who was holding-hands with me suddenly squeezed it tighter, almost immediately as we got here it started raining and then a quite muscular man with white hair and nice pecs and two beautiful women on either side of him came by to where Laura and Alisson's mom Ivana was standing and silently weeping over Apollo, then he said "Ivana, nice seeing you here, I'm very sorry for your loss over your dear husband and my brother-"
But Ivana cut him off and said "thank you very much for your kind words, Mr. Everton Reyes but I would be pleased to tell you that I do not need your condolences and my daughters and I would be better off if you don't stick your ugly face into my business so if you would please excuse-"as Ivana was slowly roasting him and preparing to leave Everton, Laura and Alisson's uncle shut her off and slowly said.
"I believe I haven't said that I was done yet, so I will kindly oblige you to open those animal ears of yours and listen, since you haven't been able to bear a male child for my brother who was supposed to be the heir of the Reyes foundation and company, I as the second born and rightful owner to the properties that my kind brother left behind will be taking it all" he said with a mocking smile as he watched Ivana's face contort into what looked like a mix of anger, regret and sadness.
Gritting her teeth, Ivana said "How. …dare you, you bastard..."
"Ooh how I love and cherish the look on your face, it is so heartwarming and it makes me want to always see more of it as it is" Everton smirked as he spoke. "however I am so kind enough to give you a choice, become mine and I will give you all you ever wanted and plus even more and I will also fund your daughters education till they are of marriageable age so they can also have a chance to join my harem, even if you manage to bear me a son i might not send you packing, so think about it and tell me what is a your thought an what I said when we meet again three days from now, well see ya." he said as he walked away.
"Mom who was that man?" Alisson asked.
"...H-he is your uncle Ali, he is your uncle" Ivana's thoughts were in disarray as she knew a slight part of everything he said was right, she wanted her daughters to continue schooling but not on the condition of giving up her body to her husband's brother because it went against everything she worked for so she was stuttering in the process.
I was dumbfounded and also at a loss for words as I heard what Apollo's brother said, at a point I started to doubt that Laura's memories were intact so I asked her and she said that it was infact accurate and it was a record of the hell she went through.
"This was the beginning of all the pain, suffering and torture I went through during the time I was with my uncle." Laura mentioned beside me as the space around us warped again and we vanished from the burial ground to somewhere I was a bit familiar with, it was training room with younger Laura there and what seemed different was that Laura was practicing swordsmanship with a very beautiful Lady in my own opinion.
Laura was much more older now as stood in the middle of the training room, wearing a blue crop-top and a pair of black shorts and sneakers and the lady was wearing something similar to what Laura was wearing but hers was red all-over, and I was able to see Laura's teacher's defined body shape and muscles which were superb to me.
"Damian you need to stop staring at my teacher, it's bad" Laura said to me while staring holes into the top I was wearing.
"Ha-ha i-it's not what you are thinking about" I said nervously.
"Oh really? Then tell me what you were looking at" Laura said giving me anything but a cute smile.
"I-i was just looking at how cute you were when you were still younger that's all" I said in in uncertainty.
"R-really? o-of course i was pretty even now I am still a beauty" flushed Laura said while looking down.
"Anyway scratch that, who is the lady next to you, I figured she is a teacher whose expertise is in swords am I right?"
"Oh her she is Hestia, my teacher, she was a very nice person I miss her"
"Hestia uh, wait a sec you said 'she was' like is she dead?" after thinking about what to say for a moment I asked.
"Her no way, she is very hard to kill believe it or not she is an Echo- ranked Berserker Soldier whose name is Hestia the Flame Queen." Laura said in an amazed tone it seemed like she was really proud of her teacher but something struck me as strange cause how did someone that impressive become Laura's teacher so I asked her and she said
"Oh that's because I'm awesome, and let it sink into your head that your sister is very strong" Laura said grinning from ear to ear
*SLAP*
I didn't know when my palm hit my forehead as I shook my head at Laura's coyness.
"Really I see, I see you are very strong uh?" I said in doubt as to how she was supposed to beat an Echo-ranked.
"Yeah I may not look it but I am a Festroit-ranked swordswoman" Laura said with her cheeks puffed and her head raised in pretend pride.
"No way, you are joking right?" I asked and I am not kidding as I am pretty sure that I was wide-eyed unbelief plastered on my face.
.
.
.
.
I watched as younger Laura and Hestia closed their distance in an instant. With only the intent to kill, Laura stabbed her wooden sword at Hestia's chest but Hestia blocked it with her own sword.
But the real attack was the one that followed as Laura hurled another stab at Hestia's abdomen in a bit to try to injure her as laura felt that she had gained an edge with this attack but…
Hestia stepped back a little to put in a bit of space between them as she parried the sword aimed at her abdomen.
"Is this the best you can do Laura? You can do better than this, come at me like I am your enemy okay?"
"Yes Miss Hestia" Laura said as she bolted off again as she tried to make a stab at Hestia's throat.
"Fast but not fast enough, I like your spirit" Hestia said as she brought her sword down and blocked the attack
Laura continued her offense with a moderate speed so as not to get tired so easily
*DOK*
*BONK*
The sound of wooden swords clashing with each other reverberated across the room.
Hestia tilted her neck and dodged the thrust of Laura's sword strike then sent an attack at Laura who in turn sidestepped and avoided the sword strike from Hestia, at the same time Laura jumped up and made a spin kick to Hestia's face but in the next moment she swerved to the right and dodged the kick to her eyes.
With growing intent they dashed at each other.
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