Hajin had no idea who these people were.
They were armed, standing around his camp, and one of them had already tried to take his crystals while he was passed out, so whatever excuse they had, he wasn't in the mood to hear it.
'Should I just run?' he thought, keeping the sword up while his eyes moved between them.
The idea should have felt obvious, but something about his body kept throwing him off. He felt too light on his feet, almost like the ground wasn't holding him as hard as it should, and even his eyesight seemed sharper than normal.
Every small movement stood out too clearly. He could see the way the girl's fingers tightened near her knife, the twitch in the other man's shoulder, even the dust shifting under their boots.
'What is going on with me?' he thought, tightening his grip on the sword. 'Why do I feel so...'
He didn't get to finish that thought.
The guy with the axe launched at him first, closing the distance fast while the weapon came in hard from the side.
'Oho, would you look at this guy,' he thought, the decision coming so naturally it almost surprised him, 'then let's do this head on.'
Instead of backing off, he stepped in.
The move felt so clean that for a second it almost pissed him off, because this should not have been easy for him. He slipped inside the swing by a hair, saw the man's eyes widen, then drove his fist straight into his face with everything he had.
The impact cracked across the clearing.
"Gah-"
The man's head snapped sideways and his whole body stumbled with it, the axe swing breaking apart on the spot while Hajin planted his foot and kept his balance.
'What the hell?' he thought, staring at his own arm for a second, 'since when can I move like that?'
The guy staggered back, spat to the side and looked up with pure disbelief on his face.
'Get up again,' Hajin thought, lowering his stance a little, 'come on, I want to see if that was luck.'
Maybe that was a stupid thing to think when he had been half dead a little while ago, but right now the feeling in his body was too strange to ignore. He wanted to know what had changed, how much had changed, and the angry idiot in front of him was giving him the perfect chance to find out.
The man cursed and rushed him again.
Hajin met him head on for the second time, knocking the axe aside with his sword before stepping in close and driving his shoulder into the man's chest. The hit broke his balance just enough for Hajin to slam the pommel into his mouth, then kick his knee when he folded.
"Ghk-"
He barely got the sound out before Hajin hit him again.
This time it was a punch to the stomach, followed by an elbow to the side of the head that sent him crashing to one knee.
'This feels insane,' he thought, breathing rough but grinning a little anyway, 'I should not be this much faster than him.'
The guy pushed himself up with a snarl, blood on his lips now and humiliation written all over his face.
"You little shit," he said, voice shaking with anger. "I was going easy on you."
'Yeah, sure you were,' he thought, sword still up. 'Please keep lying to yourself and swing again.'
The man's face twisted harder after that, and the air around him suddenly changed. Mana surged off his body in a sharp burst while the two Shards around his arm flared brighter, and Hajin felt the pressure of it immediately.
'Oh,' he thought, the grin fading a little, 'there it is.'
Even without understanding much, he could tell this was different from before. The guy had been angry a second ago, but now he was actually about to use something real.
Before Hajin could decide whether to press in or back off, Cassie moved.
"Are you trying to die?" she snapped, stepping between them so fast that even Hajin blinked.
Her hand chopped down on the back of the man's neck with a clean hit, and his whole body went slack on the spot before collapsing face first into the dirt.
The clearing went quiet for a second before Cassie turned to Hajin and bowed so fast it almost looked rehearsed.
"I am sorry," she said. "He was completely out of line."
He stared at her, still breathing hard, the sword not lowering yet. Part of him felt disappointed, which was probably insane but still true, because he wanted to keep going and see what else this body could do now.
Deep down though, he knew that if that skill came out for real, the fight would have gotten ugly fast.
'I may be faster now,' he thought, looking at the unconscious man and then at the glowing Shards still fading around his arm, 'but I still don't have any abilities.'
He finally lowered the sword a little and gave her an awkward smile.
"It's okay," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "I was kind of out of line too."
Cassie blinked at him, 'maybe I overreacted a little?' she thought, keeping her eyes on him. 'His mana is strange, and that ring is definitely strange, but he doesn't actually feel that strong.'
She looked at the unconscious man on the ground, then back at Hajin and immediately shook that thought off.
'Yeah, no,' she thought, 'I am not fucking around and finding out.'
She bowed again, smaller this time, "sorry again," she said. "We'll leave now."
Then she turned her head toward the other man who had stayed out of the fight the whole time.
"Help me carry him," she said, pointing at the idiot on the ground. "We're going."
The other man nodded quickly and moved over without arguing, grabbing the unconscious idiot under one arm while Cassie took the other.
They only made it a few steps before Cassie looked back at him again.
"Wait," she said, adjusting her grip on the dead weight between them. "What guild are you with?"
He blinked once and titled his head, "none."
That answer caught her off guard so badly it showed on her face.
'No guild?' she thought, looking at the ring around his wrist again, 'someone with something that strange has no guild at all?'
"Then..." she hesitated for a second. "Do you want to join ours?"
He shook his head, "no," he said. "There are some things I need to figure out first."
Cassie studied him for a moment, then slowly nodded, "I see," she said. "Then... good luck."
"Yeah," the other man muttered, still helping drag their unconscious friend along. "Try not to kick anyone else in the chest."
Hajin snorted a little, "tell him not to touch dead people's stuff and maybe he'll be fine."
Cassie looked like she wanted to say something to that, but in the end she just gave him one last small bow.
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye," he said, watching them head back down the path until the trees started swallowing them up.
Once they were gone, the clearing finally went quiet again.
He let out a slow breath, lowered the sword fully and turned his attention back to the floating panel that had been sitting off to the side through all of that.
The stream tab was open now.
[ Stream ]
[ Status: Active ]
[ Viewers: 1 ]
[ Comments: 1 ]
He stared at the numbers for a second, "what?"
He tapped the comment section, and a single line popped up in front of him.
[ CringeSlayer91: what is this cringe bs ]