Return of the Woodcutter

"How are your injuries, Ogoro?" Aito asked, hinting at the arm that had yet to fully heal. 

"The healing process is going well," Ogoro replied, "but complete recovery will still take an hour." 

"Hum, that won't do," Aito said. "We will need to escape as soon as possible." 

"Why?" Ogoro asked, "We could stay here and recover—" 

"He's right." Sheyla interrupted. "If we stay here, it could spell trouble for us later. They will gather reinforcement. What's more, we do not have the resources to wait out for too long either. The sooner we try to escape, the higher our chances of success. However, taking into account our current situation, Aito is the only one who stands a real chance of getting out of here alive." 

Aito blinked a few times, thinking he had misheard something, wondering if she had truly used his name just now. He wanted to tease her with it, but it wasn't time for jokes. 

Ogoro agreed. It's been a while since his sister has spoken such a long sentence. Probably because she considered their situation at the same level as one of their past assassination missions. Although…

"Before we discuss this topic any further, I would like to thank you for saving us, again," Ogoro said, slightly bowing his head. "And I'm sorry about what I told you before. I was wrong." 

Aito sighed. He felt uncomfortable with those kinds of topics. He said, "It's fine, you weren't completely in the wrong, anyway." 

"No, I was wrong. And now I owe you a debt I cannot expect to repay any time soon." Ogoro said, in a dramatic way, although it seemed realistic and weirdly believable to prevent from mistaking it with sarcasm. 

"Stop this, please," Aito said, holding his head in his hand. "If you truly want to repay me, make it out of here alive." 

"You might be able to," Sheyla said, "but we won't. And if you try to protect us as you did, you'll only get yourself killed. It's hopeless. Unless your room has a sci-fi machine that would boost our strength, we won't stand a chance." 

"Just leave me behind," Ogoro said, his gaze reflecting a firm resolve. "I cannot fight properly by your side, but I might be able to buy you enough time to escap—" 

Sheyla launched a straight palm strike his way, landing a clean hit on Ogoro's jaw, interrupting his sentence.

"Shut up!" She said, clearly angry. "Why do you have to play hero and try to sacrifice yourself, again? Two times weren't enough for you? You're going to do it a third time? Are you stupid? Why would you take such a risk? Did you lose half your brain cells in the previous fight?" 

Ogoro looked sideways, then said, "This is the only way I can repay him. He saved us not once, but twice. If you agree to take my sister with you Aito, I'd gladly lay down my life for you both to escape." 

Aito looked at him unamused, wondering if he should punch him, too. For once, he agreed with Sheyla, playing hero would benefit no one. Moreover…

"I have a way to, perhaps, moderately increase our chances of escaping together," He said, lifting his index and middle finger. "But you've got to promise me two things in exchange." 

Both sister and brother glared at each other, seemingly communicating through an invisible unknown means, their sibling's bond. Simultaneously, they turned towards him. 

"You realize that it is hard to believe such a way exists," Sheyla said. 

"However," Ogoro added, "after what I've seen you do until now, I am willing to trust you with this." 

"I'm still unconvinced, but I'll give you the benefice of the doubt," Sheyla said. "Name your conditions." 

Aito lifted both his brows unconsciously, surprised by the bonds they shared and showed. They hadn't even needed to talk it out. Not out loud, at least. They were truly siblings. 

Without further ado, Aito said, "First, promise me that you won't speak of what's about to happen with anybody else. Be it a god or even an ant." 

"Sure, I swear it on my life," Ogoro said, while Sheyla settled for a nod. 

"Second," Aito paused. It was the most difficult topic to discuss, after all. They might just find it outright foolish. But he hoped that their current precarious situation would help smooth the fact that his second condition was dangerous. Probably even more dangerous than facing Kai and his sect. 

"Second, help me clear the Tower." 

Ogoro eyed his sister, who seemed to ponder this condition quite thoroughly, then said, "As long as my sister agrees to come, be it in hell or to the last floor of this treacherous Tower, I will follow you. I owe you that, and more."

Taking into account Ogoro's affection for his sister, his reply had been predictable enough. Aito turned his gaze towards Sheyla. Her decision would influence the following events, after all. 

"Very well," Sheyla said. 

"That easily?" Aito said, surprised. "Not gonna lie, I was expecting you to object." 

"We don't really have a choice, anyway." Sheyla replied, "If we refuse, we will most probably die soon. And in the eventuality that we survive today somehow, without your help, staying in the first zone of the Tower where we will be within the sect's reach is a death sentence. I imagine that they won't let us go unscathed after today. If we accept, we might die later in one of the other zones. But to my mind, later is better than sooner." 

"I see, sounds reasonable enough," Aito said. 

Sheyla appeared to him as the smartest of the two. Although Ogoro was far from being outright stupid, he was more guided by his emotions than logic. His sister seemed like the complete opposite. More logic-driven than emotion-driven.

Well, most of the time, at least. Aito still didn't understand her reason for their previous duel. Had there been a logic to it? Or had it been an emotional one?

"Now what?" Sheyla asked. 

"Now you close your eyes and only open them when I say so," Aito said, with complete seriousness. 

Trusting him, Ogoro immediately shut his eyes. However, Sheyla did send Aito a quizzical gaze before reluctantly following through with his order. 

Then, Aito walked behind the couch the siblings were seated on, took out his candle stored in one of the bathrobe's fluffy pockets, and placed it just on top of Ogoro's head before infusing his mana into it. 

The wick caught on fire, instantly showing two options: 

1) Access to Ogoro's status window.

2) Grant Ogoro a class.

Aito picked the second option, however, something he hadn't expected showed up.

'The fuck is this?'