Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

"What did you say?" Aline asked after she stomped on the ground.

Ethan decided to leave those two alone since that was too tiresome, Ian watched them for a short while, but soon he followed Ethan and Dante.

"Come on, guys! Aren't you interested in that fight?" Ian asked. "How often do you see girls at that age talking shit to each other about their boobs and things like that? You could sell tickets for this kind of thing."

"No one is asking you to come," Ethan said.

"I'd rather not watch girls fighting each other and wait for them to solve their differences," Dante said.

"You two are unbelievable… I bet that neither of you had a single girlfriend in the worlds you saved," Ian shrugged.

"You don't have the right to say that when you are the peak of a dumb teenager when you have fallen in love with your teacher," Ethan said while furrowing his eyebrows. "You almost have a plate on your neck saying: zero girlfriends."

"Ha-ha, no way," Ian laughed. "There are dozens of girls I left behind in another world for Miss Lyla."

"Yeah, right…" Ethan said and then sighed.

Eventually, Ethan asked Hannah where they could find Isaac, and then they found him in an area filled with medic tents. Emily's father was also there, so eventually, the two girls joined them.

"I suppose you all must be bored…" Isaac frowned a bit. "Still, it can't be helped. Anyway, there is a gym north of here with a simulator. It is a single one that is used by my allies who just obtained mana, but it must be free. I will send word to the people there."

It didn't take long for everyone to find the gym and then the simulator. Only two people were guarding the place, so they had an easy time entering it. While Emily just wanted to exercise, and the equipment in the gym would help her well enough, she was determined not to run away from Alone.

Regardless, once they found the simulator, they entered after selecting the free mode, and then they appeared on some massive long plainlands. Everyone came there to work hard, but Ian just sat on the ground and began to relax like the sleeping Buddha.

"Entertain me, mortals," Ian said, and then Ethan fired some ice arrows at his legs.

"Didn't you make any progress with the visualization training?" Ethan asked.

"I can imagine some situations, but I can't get into them since I know that it is just an imaginary scenario," Dante replied.

"I see… in that case," Ethan said, and then he looked at Alone, who frowned. "What do you think of her?"

"... Why are you asking that?" Dante frowned.

"Answer the question. I don't want to waste my time here," Ethan said while showing a serious expression.

Dante furrowed his eyebrows since Ethan suddenly looked a lot more violent, or perhaps wild all of a sudden… he wasn't the same person who had just talked with him a few seconds ago. It was kind of worrisome that someone could have such mood swings.

"She is… a precious friend," Dante replied after hesitating for a second.

"Booooorriinnnnng," Ian said.

Ethan looked to the side and noticed that the girls also listened to that, and Aline looked a bit embarrassed. Ethan wanted to sigh… those people probably had an easy life in their worlds since they could be this innocent in matters like that.

"Imagine this… we are going to spar now. If I hurt you even a bit, then I will kiss Aline," Ethan declared.

"... What?" Dante frowned.

"Hey, leave me out of your games," Aline protested, and then he noticed that Emily also looked a bit suspicious with those words.

"It is just an imaginary scenario…" Ethan shrugged. "In any case, the results will be like this: if you get hit, you don't care about her. If you manage to repel all my attacks, then you care about her."

"You are putting me in a difficult situation here…" Dante said.

"Enough of your nonsense," Ethan said and then summoned his sword before changing the look in his eyes. "Treat my words the way you want, but you will see by my actions if I am joking or not."

For a moment, Dante forgot that Ethan was trying to help him and then assumed a fighting stance after summoning his sword. He relaxed a bit after recalling that but soon forgot it again when Ethan dashed toward him. The others only saw Ethan turning into a blur, and then the sound of metal colliding echoed in the area alongside a shockwave that forced them to cover their eyes.

The same thing happened several times, so it took a while for them to see Ethan pushing Dante away with all of his sword strikes. While he blocked all of them, it looked like he didn't have time to do anything else… Ethan was being serious, and his speed couldn't be compared to the previous day.

All of a sudden, Ethan jumped and then fell almost over Dante while using Explosive Impact and Fire Enchantment. The attack hit the ground and burned all the grass in a one hundred meters radius.

"I can still get faster, you know, and soon it will hit you… that will be pretty embarrassing to lose to a rank E student and also lose your girl," Ethan muttered since they were two hundred meters away from the others.

"This scenario is ridiculous…" Dante said. "You can't force yourself onto others like you are lying."

"Am I?" Ethan asked. "Well, it is up to you to think that way. That being said, do you really think that Aline will still be your friend if you lose her? If you don't show any effort? Once you lose your rank and her admiration, what will you have that will attract her?"

"I…" Dante hesitated.

"I said that as a joke, but I have to agree that she has quite the body for someone of her age… making a move in a girl like her will be easy," Ethan smirked. "You heard what I said yesterday… with my experience, using and discarding her will be easy."