Under the Veil of Night

"Have I given you permission to go?"

The very next second, his large blade was already swinging towards their direction, ready to kill them.

"Watch out!"

Kanae immediately dashed to where the blade was heading. Her small arm already took out the small sword that she usually used. Using the sword, she blocked the blade before it could reach her friends.

'Heavy!'

The strength behind the single swing was more than enough to send her backwards. Crashing into the wall, her entire body hurt all over from the impact. Seeing how the wall caved in behind her, that swing of Master Rudy's should have broken numerous bones.

*cough* *cough*

Blood trickled down from her mouth as she slumped to the ground. It was very agonizing. Right now, she didn't know which part of her body was still intact anymore. Every cell in her body was screaming the word 'pain'.

"Rei!" Jason was only able to react after she fell to the ground. Only a few split seconds have passed since Master Rudy's attack. Neither him nor Tommy managed to react in time.

'Interesting,' Master Rudy's eyes gleamed when he saw how Kanae moved to block his attack. He could see that her movement and reaction speed already matched his, but her strength was pitifully lacking. In addition, it seemed that she had one big weakness that prevented her from executing that speed continuously.

Matt's eyes widened when he saw how she managed to block Master Rudy's attack.

'Master Rudy's instinct is truly accurate.'

There was indeed someone worthy of his attention among the three people. Unfortunately, this person hadn't grown up enough to make this master truly care about her.

Seeing how badly Kanae was beaten, Jason and Tommy moved to attack Master Rudy too. Their eyes burned with rage because they couldn't accept this result.

"Stop!" Kanae yelled weakly, but it was futile. The two of them no longer listened to her.

Master Rudy looked at the two of them calmly. He turned his blade over and attacked the two of them with the blunt edge. With a single attack each, the two of them rolled into the alley behind them, creating long lines on the ground.

"NOOOO!" Kanae yelled. Pushing her wounded body up, she dashed to attack Master Rudy again. With a speed that far surpassed what she thought was her limit, she reached the man and swung her sword as fast as she could.

Jleb! Grab!

Using his hand, Master Rudy blocked the attack. He allowed the sword to pierce through his palm as he observed the desperate eyes of the girl before him.

Even though she knew very well that she was not his match, she wouldn't let him go after hurting her friends. Her eyes were smoldering with determination and with rage directed towards him.

Master Rudy smirked when he saw her eyes. He lifted her up before throwing her back to the ground.

BAM!

*cough* *cough*

Pain shot through her entire body, making her unable to think about anything. Every move she tried to make caused more pain to emerge and intensify further. It was so painful that she couldn't move anymore.

"You're not my match, little girl," Master Rudy said. "Your friends are still alive. If you still want to beat me, you should think about how to train your body further. With your current strength, you're just an ant in front of me."

After saying all that, Master Rudy turned around. "If you're still alive, we shall meet again in the future."

Master Rudy walked away. Matt quickly followed after Master Rudy, his eyes carrying a complicated gaze.

"Master, was that not too harsh?"

Master Rudy smirked. "Those worthy of my attention will survive this small ordeal. Admitting that you're weak and learning how to improve is the first step to becoming a great person."

"I still think that you were being really harsh, Master," Matt frowned. "You weren't that cold when you first picked me up."

"That's because you're too weak, Matt. That girl is different," Master Rudy answered. The eyes that he saw confirmed that she was truly different. He wondered, how many years would it take for that girl to reach his level should she survive? He couldn't wait.

*cough*

"Rei, are you alright?" Jason was struggling to stand up. His body hurt, but he could feel that Master Rudy held back at the end. If not for that, he wouldn't be able to stand up right now.

Kanae shook her head as she coughed again. "Call Shin. I won't be able to stand up."

Seeing the numerous scrapes on her body in addition to the blood that continued to flow from her mouth, Jason quickly called Shiro for emergency treatment. In a matter of minutes, Shiro brought them to his clinic for further treatment.

It took the poor doctor hours to finish treating them.

"Rei, it will be better if you go to the hospital. Your current condition is quite severe," Shiro said warily. He knew about this girl's economic situation, but her condition was also the most severe.

"I'll be fine with several days of rest," Kanae put on a wry smile.

Shiro frowned. "Even if you say that, I don't recommend you returning to your house. You should stay here with Tom."

"Are you sure you're alright with this?"

"Yes, Oro says that he will send more supplies for you since it's partially his fault that you ended up in this condition."

The one who made the first move to check out the situation was Jason, so the man felt guilty because his decision led to the subsequent events. If not because they were lucky, they might already be dead on the street right now.

Kanae smiled. "They're already alright?"

"Oro is quite strong because of his strong foundation and years of training, so he can still walk around rather fine. His family will surely question him if he shows any weakness, so he already went home. Tom is relatively weaker than you two even though he used to be slightly better than you. His condition is not bad, but he has some broken bones and bruises.

From the way I see it, that person must have held back when facing the two of them. If not, I'm sure they will already have met their creator by now."

Kanae was stunned. How come some broken bones and bruises be not bad?

Shiro's next words answered her question. "As for you, almost all of your ribs are broken. Your back is completely bruised from the impact with the wall. Your left shoulder is partially crushed, requiring months for full recovery."

"It's that bad?" Kanae was surprised.

"If you're lucky, you will need three months for full recovery," Shiro commented. "Based on your healing speed I've seen so far, I think it'll be faster, but not by too much either."

"Three months?" Kanae fell into despair. She could barely earn enough money for her and her sister each month even with working her body to the bone. If she had to rest for three months, how could she eat?

"Oro will pay the expenses, and he already sent some money to your sister," Shiro informed. "He only asks you to stay here and not in your home for the time being. Those are his gestures of apology."

Kanae gritted her teeth. "If he truly wants to apologize, he better treat me to a feast every day for three months!"

"I'll tell him that," Shiro smiled wryly. By the time Kanae recovers, Jason would surely have suffered the greatest loss.. His bank account will be drained just for this little lass's food.