Perhaps at one point Simon[Leo] would have needed to fight the man for information about Pure, but the two of them had just fought on the same side to defeat an enemy that neither one felt like they could have defeated on their own.
"Do you think just because you are a member of Pure that the two of us are automatically enemies and we are unable to talk things out?" Simon[Leo] questioned the man lying on the ground. "I won't harm you. As a fellow warrior, it would be shameful to attack someone in your condition, especially since you ended up like that for the sake of humanity."
For a long time Chris had imagined meeting the other party. In the past, whenever someone would discover his affiliation with Pure they would immediately treat him as if he was a villain and proceed to attack him on the spot. And yet, this man, who his teacher had imprinted so strongly into his mind as someone that he was destined to fight against…
Simon[Leo] had simply judged him by the few moments they had known each other for instead of what group he belonged to.
"You really are completely different from what I have been led to believe. I'm sure you have a lot of questions on your mind. After all that's why you're searching for members of Pure in the first place, so let me at least thank you by answering those." Chris offered, as he attempted to move his pinky finger. He started to regain a slight feeling in it, but he would need a long period of rest until he could think about fighting again.
"I will be happy to take you up on that. I just hope you have the answers I ask. Let's start by who exactly your teacher is?" Simon[Leo] asked, also having noticed the slight movement of the other. He placed Chir's weapons next to him, on the side away from Chris. After all they weren't rightfully his in the first place, but there was no need to return them until after their talk.
'He is a very cautious man and even now he seems to be on guard from any attack. He must have lived through quite a lot even after the war.' Chris noted.
"Who else could it be than the leader of the Pure?" Chris answered, not shying away from the question at all. "That person didn't just teach me how to use Qi, but all of us that know Qi was from him."
It looked like Simon[Leo] was on the right track. He had already amassed enough clues to guess who the leader of Pure was, but this was the confirmation he had needed deep down inside.
"And does the leader of Pure also happen to have a name?" Simon[Leo] asked.
"We only know him as Zero. Whatever his real name might be, he has never shared it with anyone..." For a second Chris paused for he recalled one person who might know their leader's name. Zero hadn't started Pure on his own after all, but that woman had already passed on, so there was no reason to mention her.
"You wish to fight him, don't you? Just talking about him has made your aura perk up in anticipation, but let me burst your bubble. You will be disappointed. For as great a man and mentor Zero may be, personally he is... weak. Ironic, isn't it? Guiding others to a treasure he cannot possess... He knew that you would come chasing after him at one point. That's why he trained me."
"He wanted me to get strong enough so I would fight you in his place. I don't know the story between you and him, but he's the saviour of my life and he turned me into Pure's sword, so I have always considered it a small price to repay him. He had once promised to let me know the full story after he passed, but that hasn't happened yet."
For the first time, it seems as if Simon[Leo] didn't understand anything at all. He had an idea of why Pure was behind everything, but why would this master go through all this? Why did he train someone for Simon[Leo] to fight against? Alas, the person in front of him didn't have the answers to that either. It seemed like there was no way to find out apart from asking him directly. The memories he had of his master and Chris's story wasn't adding up.
"Why did he create an organisation like Pure? Was it really just to purge the world of skill[ability] users? Even he should realise that doing so would hurt humanity. He should be focusing his anger on the Oregon[Dalki], those that killed all of our friends, or even me, the reason everyone was exposed to the world in the first place." Simon[Leo] spoke, as he had been left confused.
"How would I know? Everyone has their own reasons for joining Pure. Most of them had been hurt by skill[ability] users in the post, however nobody is forced to align with Zero's goal. We are not like that. We just all have the same wish and are working together towards that wish."
"Of course we aren't stupid, as you can see, even I know we need to work together to get rid of the Oregon[Dalki], but for the longest time during our 'peace' it looked like as long as humanity continued to rely on abilities... we would have managed to kill ourselves even without any outside interference." Chris argued, mulling towards the end.
Due to how weak Chris was, he was unable to hide his energy as well as he had before. It seemed like Chris was struggling with his beliefs as he once did. His energy was all over the place as he said those last few words.
"If you don't have any other questions, would you mind answering one of mine?" Chis requested. Simon[Leo] was hesitant at first, but ultimately decided that it would just be fair. As long as it wasn't too deep of a secret he could entertain the other, as such he nodded.
"How come you and that boy share the same strange red energy?" Chris asked.
"Boy?" Simon[Leo] repeated, surprised at the direction of the question.
"The boy known as Archer[Quinn] Geman[Talen]." Chris clarified.
Now it made sense who this man was. He was the same Chris that Archer[Quinn] had met on the island, and also the one who had taught him the second stage of Qi.
'Who would have thought that everyone would one day meet each other? I suppose that will happen when the strongest powers need to act.'
"That boy and me are close, I am...was his teacher but we both belong to the Cursed faction."
Simon[Leo] walked away with his answers being answered. After seeing Chris perform the fourth stage of Qi there was one thing Simon[Leo] was clear about. In a fight with Chris at the moment he would lose out.
He wasn't sure if what was said about his master was true, but before he came to look for Pure once more, he would need to get stronger again.
Seeing Gyro[Erin], Simon[Leo] started to unravel the chains, and placed them around her arm, only this time, rather than wrapping it up her forearm, he wrapped the chains to the top of her shoulder.
'It should restrict her movement but the suppression should work better from here.' Simon[Leo] thought.
Returning to the arena was a large group of members who had beast gear on. It wasn't clear who they were but as soon as they spotted Chris they had come running over to see if he was okay.
"Didn't I tell you guys to run away? Did you disobey an order?" Chris questioned the members of Pure in an authoritative tone, despite his injuries.
"Sir, we apologise for that, but there wasn't much we could do but hide somewhere in the city. The teleporters weren't working, so there was no way for us to leave. Once the fighting and rumbling stopped we believed that you must have successfully defeated the Oregon[Dalki], so we came to check on you." The man admitted honestly.
Chris looked towards where Simon[Leo] and Gyro[Erin] would have been, but they had already vanished.
"I didn't defeat the Oregon[Dalki] on my own." Chris mumbled as the members carefully helped him stand up. He started to absorb the energy of the two users next to him. He didn't take too much Qi, just enough so he could walk on his own.
As he walked along, some members stood in front to the side, and towards the back of Chris, and one in particular started to move close to Chris, his eyes glowing red. Pulling his hand back, it started to be covered in a red aura, and the man thrust his fist straight towards Chris' back where his heart would be.
Chris, being his weak self, hadn't even been able to muster up any Qi to protect himself, and only became aware of the attack at the last moment, but the arm had fallen to the floor before it could even reach Chris.
And standing there with a blade in his hand was none other than Simon[Leo].
"It seems like you never expected another one to be here. My nose seems to be a bit stronger than yours and I could smell you from a while away. Tell me who sent you." Simon[Leo] demanded, looking at the vampire that had just attempted to take Chris' life.
To be continued....
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