Her sister was her role model, but despite seeing her struggle, she did not feel as bad as she thought she would before.
Now she felt a blazing flame glowing inside her, becoming brighter and brighter, making her more motivated.
She watched intently, wanting to obtain more insight from their fight if possible.
However, the fight did not last as long as others had expected.
There were clouds of dust everywhere due to the commotion from before, and the moment they peered into it after the dust clouds settled, they saw a shocking view. It was too sudden.
Oliver was lying with his back against a tree, clutching his chest and groaning in pain.
What happened? How did he lose?
All they heard was a strong bang, and the next moment Oliver was lying down, defeated.
Did Bella finally win?
She looked at her sister and noticed her eyes had a trace of surprise as well.
She felt it was understandable that Bella won. Her sister was the oldest of the bunch and equally talented; her losing to someone with less experience and training would be hard to believe.
But what transpired next made her perception of her sister crumble.
She, who boasted that she knew her sister the best, was now dumbfounded by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
Bella, her sister, who had always been calm and composed even in the toughest situations, no matter how high the pressure, lost her composure for the first time.
She watched as her sister went up to the guy and grabbed his collar roughly.
So disrespectful!
She could not help but look at her older sister in shock. What was she doing in front of so many people and elders?
And why was she doing this?
She heard her sister yelling at the guy.
Purposefully? Intentionally?fr𝚎𝗲𝐰ebnov𝐞𝐥.𝐜o𝗺
She heard those words but couldn't hear the full sentence from afar.
Her eyes widened even further when her sister tried to forcefully stop his hand from clutching his injury.
She hurriedly went up to her to stop her since the elders were not intervening for some reason.
However, before she could, someone else reached him first.
It was Nadia! His sister.
She could feel a very heavy tension filling the atmosphere at that moment.
Her heart palpitated in anxiety when she heard Nadia's cold threat. She could feel the air around them was filled with a strong and dark intent solely aimed at her sister.
The smell of gunpowder was evident in the situation, and even the slightest action could lead to an explosion.
She could feel the strong aura oozing out of Nadia; it was overwhelming, on par with her sister's aura.
Nadia was definitely angry, and she had the right to be.
Her sister was being too much at the moment, tormenting her opponent even after winning.
This was confusing given her sister's nature.
Even though she had not seen it with her own eyes, she put the matter behind her mind and quickly stopped her sister from acting further.
She could see a hint of madness in Bella's eyes, as if she was unwilling to accept the outcome.
She made a mental note to herself to later question her about it and the duel.
After a small incident where her sister almost cried, the event was quickly wrapped up.
After reaching back home, back to their clan, she tried asking her sister on multiple occasions about the outcome of the duel and what she was unwilling about, but all those times, her sister either avoided the topic or did not reply to her.
It was as if she did not want to talk about it at all.
All she heard from her was that there would be more opportunities in the future and that she should be more patient.
And it was now when they were meeting again at the base of the mountain shortly after a few days.
The elders had left them behind to train under the guidance of a renowned exorcist, a veteran of war.
However, to meet their new teacher, they were supposed to climb up a mountain where the higher they climbed, the more pressure it would put on their shoulders to test them if they were worthy enough to reach the top.
It was, in a way, tempering their bodies and will with each step.
At the top was where their teacher awaited them.
Who knows, he might even be monitoring them right as they were climbing slowly, ensuring their safety and assessing their skills and standings.
She was able to surpass most of the heirs from other clans, except for the ones from the Mystic Purge Clan.
No matter how hard she tried to reach up to him, he would maintain a fixed distance between them.
It was as if he was 'deliberately' doing this, trying to challenge her or show her who was superior with how easily he was keeping the distance fixed between them.
If she moved up two stairs, then so would he.
It should have been difficult for him too as he climbed upwards since each stair had an increased amount of pressure, but he was still able to maintain the gap.
However, instead of feeling down or angry this time, she was feeling more excited and motivated as she climbed more and more.
Her sister and his sister, Bella and Nadia, were competing among themselves at the top. They were quite far from them at the moment.
She wondered if all the older sisters were like this.
Nevertheless, she could not help but secretly feel that the guy whose back was facing her was a milestone that she must reach and surpass.
__________________
Oliver, who had been jogging up without knowing anything, could have never expected that Evelyn was thinking this much.
In fact, if he was asked, he would say that this matter was not that deep.
At least not to him.
'For some reason, I am feeling a strong gaze on my back for a while…'
Oliver sweated slightly as he kept walking upwards. He could guess who was behind this intense stare.
He was slightly confused as to why she was looking at him.
Is she mad that he was ahead of her?
Well, it could not be helped.
He was planning to surpass all of them at the moment.