"Uhhhh, what do you mean, Tiy?"
Isaac let out a noise of confusion. What Tiy was saying didn't make much sense to him since he had already agreed to help her.
Tiy shrugged with a smile on her face.
"Exo told me about your fight with my former bodyguard, and how you couldn't finish him off. I need to make sure that you finish what you started."
Isaac reeled back. He wanted the end of the fight to be a mystery to Tiy since she had a streak about not caring about others, and only about the results.
"Well, that was like a month ago, surely you can't believe that I haven't changed since then?"
Tiy stood up and stretched.
"Well, what I believe is that you can prove that you have changed, and surely you can, after all, we wouldn't want you to end up like them."
Isaac involuntarily shuddered at the thought of being a part of the pile of corpses left in Tiy's wake.
"I mean, sure, I can prove myself, but how do you plan to test me, Tiy?"
Tiy began walking in the same direction she came from.
"Follow me, and you will see."
Isaac followed Tiy for a few hours, which Isaac filled with true world training. By the time they reached a familiar clearing, the sun sat above them. The clearing that they stood in was the same Isaac had rushed over to when Tiy was badly injured due to a jealous windblessed.
Isaac stopped once they entered the clearing and began looking around. As he did that, Tiy spoke.
"When I returned to the windblessed camp, I told them that I was attacked, and my attacker got away. Since then, windbless hunters have come here looking for them. Of course, none of them have succeeded since I already killed them."
Isaac stopped looking around and spoke.
"So what does this have to do with me proving myself?"
Tiy walked up to him and patted him on the back.
"Your job is to act like my attacker and kill the next windblessed that appears."
Isaac froze when Tiy touched him, but then became intrigued by Tiy's plan.
"Don't you think that's a bit much? The person who shows up could be really strong."
Tiy rolled her eyes. Even though Isaac couldn't see them, he could tell she was.
"Trust me, Isaac, the one you fought before was one of the strongest, and seems relatively fine after that."
Isaac took a step away from her and turned around, and sarcastically responded.
"Yeah, it was super easy, only got shot a few times. Oh, and I only had to eat half of my berries to fight."
Tiy smiled and walked into a bush.
"See now you're getting it."
Isaac followed behind her, while quietly shouting, so as not to be heard by anything that could be near.
"It was sarcastic, it was one of the worst fights of my life."
Tiy giggled and calmly spoke.
"Sarcasm doesn't exist in the rooter language."
Isaac angrily walked over to Tiy in the bush, who was now crouching. Together they sat in the bush in silence for a while until a feminine figure walked out of the forest carrying a stone axe.
She started making a fire, completely unaware that both Isaac and Tiy were watching her only a few meters away. Once the fire was made, she sat down next to it, with her axe within arm's reach.
Isaac's hand formed a fist, and this doubt squirmed inside him. Tiy grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear.
"Now is your chance. Her guard is down, and all it would take is one decently placed arrow to kill her."
Isaac shook his head.
"I can't do this. She hasn't done anything to me, she hasn't even threatened me. I can't kill an innocent person."
Tiy pulled away from his ear, as her face shifted into a frown with unreadable emotions.
"She's not a person, though. She is a windblessed, something that should have never been made. Her whole life has been idolising men who don't even give them a glance, like dirt on their clothes."
Isaac's grip grew stronger as blood began to flow down his hand. His voice is louder now.
"Even if she was never meant to be made, she still is. She still lives, and breaths."
Isaac pauses and keeps speaking, but quieter now, so quiet that Tiy has a hard time hearing him.
"She is still human."
Tiy's face sours even more as she scoffs and speaks.
"She is not human. She can hardly be called a Rooter."
Tiy grabs Isaac's collar and pulls him down.
"All those laws from your home mean nothing to any of us. The only thing that matters is living, and if you can't get that in your head, then maybe it should be you that dies."
Isaac's eyes widen, not because he's shocked, but because she is right. These people he is fighting are not humans, they don't fall under any laws, and they don't care about the laws of Earth. This is purely for survival, and if he can't take a life to live, then he will be the one to die.
His head slumps over. Tiy, seeing this, lets go of him, which makes him lean against a tree. A soft mutter falls out of Isaac's mouth as his hand begins healing rapidly. The space around his hand shifts as his bow appears in his hand, and his quiver wraps around his side.
He draws an arrow and notches it in the bow. As he pulls back the bow, the woman seems to hear something and turns to look straight into the bush where they sit. This scares Isaac slightly, causing the arrow to land in the woman's upper shoulder instead of her face.
The woman tries to roll out of the way but gets thrown back a bit when hit, making her axe be out of reach. Isaac, taking advantage, runs out of the bush, while casting support magic to boost his speed.
Both Isaac and the woman reach the axe at the same time, but Isaac had a trick up his sleeve, as he uses his true world to grab the axe instead and brings his knife out to stab the woman.
The woman who had just grab the axe which vanished out of existence was stunned and could not respond the the knife that straight into her side, by the knife.
Isaac pulled up with the knife, using the moment to his advantage, but once the moment was over, the woman reached for the knife in her side, but just like the axe, it vanished, and Isaac rolled backwards and stood up.
Blood poured out of the woman, who desperately tried to stop the bleeding. Isaac was about to shoot another arrow, but stopped.
The warm blood coated his hands, making it hard to discern it from human blood. He knew it wasn't, but the thought still lingered in his mind like a forgotten melody. water magic poured out of his hands, cleaning them, which wind magic soon followed to dry them.
But that still didn't make it any easier to pull the string back, as an invisible force stood in his way. He felt like he was underwater, drowning, while being eaten alive, just like the bodyguard he had killed.
He felt hands wrap around his neck and pull him down and back, as a voice echoed in his ears.
"Don't stop now, Isaac, you're right at the finish line. If you're not careful, she might take advantage of your weakness, just like I did."