BLACK MASK [MxM]

9. Brothers Reunited I

The Bathara palace library was in a room away from the main corridor. By the time Lavi was walking slowly toward it, it had taken him fifteen minutes to arrive.

That afternoon his mood wasn't at all good, especially after how the conversation between him and Arsen had ended last night. It's the first time Lavi encountered another trait of the blonde guy. After raping him violently in anger, Arsen even left him who was half naked in the cold night with his hands cuffed. Arsen looked very upset and even slammed the door. Seeing how he reacted, that selfish young master must have found new information.

Fortunately, in the midst of his anger, Arsen still had the heart to send the servant to open the handcuffs, allowing him to show his weak side to the servant.

Really lowers self-esteem.

A pile of old books was suddenly placed on the table, startling Lavi. The middle-aged man smiled thinly behind the five piles of books, "Is there anything you need more, Mr. Lavi?"

"Is this all there is?" After asking that question, Lavi realized something. "Uncle Ogima, how could you call me that way? Can't you call me like you're calling your own child?"

The tone that drifted gently in the young man's mouth made Ogima smile, the frown lines on his old face seemed to branch like the roots of a sapling.

"You are a powerful general of war, it's disrespectful for me to call your name freely," he said.

"You took care of me since childhood, helped me read and study, you're like my own father. The title I only have is a name, it doesn't mean I can use it to look high in front of you."

The man guarding the Bathara library didn't seem to mind. "Seeing an adopted son become a general, isn't it natural that I want to call him respectfully too?"

Lavi stared at the man's face full of sincerity, not wanting to continue their pointless debate, scrolling through a book.

"Now then, tell this old man now, why do you suddenly care about some outcast clan?"

"Can I not answer?" asked Lavi seriously, her eyes sharp.

The face the man in front of him was showing was a mixture of expressions of shock and amusement. "You sure have sharp eyes. I feel chills with fear."

Lavi smiled thin and soft. His shoulder was tapped.

"Fine, I won't bother you, but I'm at my desk if you need anything. Call your uncle's name out loud three times, okay?"

After Ogima left, Lavi didn't waste much time turning through the entire book and reading it seriously. In the past, the books had never caught his eye so much because most of their contents would probably bring back his bad memories. Just because Arsen suddenly brings up Nero and Karna having a conspiracy, Lavi becomes curious about it.

Is it possible that Arsen would know more information from these books?

Most of the books only tell of how the rebellion occurred as well as some of the names of the clans that were eventually disbanded and some followers of these clans were asked to follow one of the four clans that stood if they still wanted to live freely. There are no names of the rebels and anything else, this information is just an outline. An hour later, Lavi really didn't find any information about his brother. Even Nero.

Lavi took a deep breath and cursed.

His grip on the end of the sheet of paper tightened, he began to feel his restlessness rise to the surface. It turned out that spending the books did n't make him understand where Arsen got the information about his brother.

Lavi finally decided to get out of the library, he headed for the practice room whose door had been opened from afar. There was the sound of swords clinking, slamming against each other and the sound of gasping for breath. Looking inside, by chance what he saw were the figures of Arsen and Kiril. Even though they were people he didn't want to see right now, but Lavi was still sitting on the wooden floor, at that moment he saw Arsen stop swinging his sword and turned his head towards him.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked coldly, rubbing his sweaty face.

"This is a training ground, anyone can come here," Lavi replied with a straight look, without looking at Arsen. You could be sure he would be annoyed if he got into a conversation with the blonde man. Lavi immediately took the wooden sword and stood up, before his hand was held by the man. "Let go of my hand."

Arsen's eyes look very cold. Lavi couldn't dodge when he was pulled back to sit on the floor. He was just confused when Arsen went straight to the exit. But a few minutes later Arsen returned with a plate of steamed egg with sliced ​​tomatoes and lettuce and a drink. Lavi just frowned, didn't say anything.

"You can use this place, I'll train elsewhere," said Arsen without glancing at him.

Lavi was silent for a moment, staring at the food without touching it, he stared at Arsen's departure with a confused feeling. He decided to follow him and found the man was actually training with Kiril in the field.

"You're still weak, huh." Arsen deflected the sword blows from Kiril with ease.

"Oh, it's still the beginning. Don't be proud, Young master."

Arsen took the sentence lightly. Kiril's sword came from the opposite direction and was successfully avoided by him. They switched positions when Arsen rolled forward under his feet.

"Don't ever mess with Arsen Bathara."

Kiril chuckled, his sword stabbing and splitting the empty air. Arsen's strength cannot be underestimated. That man hadn't even practiced the sword since five years ago, why was he still this good? "Even though I was confident I could scratch your handsome face."

Arsen looks proud of that sentence. "None of Mr. Renjaku's students are weak like you!"

"Oh? I will admit your prowess if you can kill Nero someday," the words made Arsen stop and Kiril's sword successfully sliced ​​his arm. Kiril smiled wryly, clearly satisfied with his young master's negligence. "You know, right, Nero has killed Bathara's soldiers? It is possible that he will kill us all. What will you do to prevent it?"

Arsen's sword swung back at that sentence, he wasn't aware since earlier Lavi heard their conversation while clenching his fist.

"Before that happens, I'll make sure I'll kill him with my hands!"

Kiril chuckled softly, his narrow eyes sinking as he smiled. "You can't, Young master, Nero is a strong criminal. You saw how he hurt Lavi, didn't you?"

Lavi's eyes narrowed, he clearly caught how Kiril had intentionally provoked Arsen. At this time Arsen's anger about the uncovering of Lavi's little secret might still not have disappeared from his mind, and Kiril deliberately doused the flames of anger with kerosene.

"Of course I can!" Arsen answered with a lopsided smile that didn't escape his lips, a terrible smile. The man was still moving cleverly to block Kiril's powerful sword until it fell. The killing aura seemed very strong. "I will kill him myself. I can avenge Lavi and my servants at the same time."

"Heh, so your main reason for wanting war is to avenge Lavi, huh, Young master?"

Lavi gripped his wooden sword tightly when he felt anger and immediately approached Arsen and Kiril in the field. He was in their midst just as Arsen's sword swung forward. Arsen stared. His sword stopped swinging a few inches near Lavi's neck.

He threw his sword on the ground, gripping Lavi by the collar. "What are you doing, you bastard! Do you want to die?!"

"Take your hand off me!" Lavi said dryly and his eyes were no less cold than Arsen. "You don't have to do anything for me. I'm not a weak person who would die that easily."

Arsen's eyebrows bent slightly, his eyes were very sharp, paying full attention. "What are you saying—"

Lavi gritted his teeth. "You know what I said!"

Arsen's grip was released, Lavi heard everything he said with Kiril and the man didn't seem to accept it. But Arsen doesn't care, he's determined to kill Nero to save Lavi from his wrong path and free his father's people as well.

Arsen closed his eyes tightly, then glanced sarcastically. "Why? Aren't you weak?"

Lavi was speechless because of that shocking sentence.

"A strong person will not be hurt," Arsen smiled crookedly. "What is there to be proud of with a weak person like you? You want revenge on Nero and I will gladly help you. For someone whose family was almost betrayed by you, am I not really forgiving?"

Lavi's face hardened. "You do it for your own satisfaction, it has nothing to do with me."

"Satisfaction? You're right, you managed to satisfy this young master last night, you are very slippery." Arsen answered casually. "We can do it again every night. You're my servant, right?"

"Arsen!"

"Right, that's my name. This time you said my name correctly. Are you angry?"

Lavi clenched his teeth, chattering in anger. His sight was really sharp through Arsen's blue lens. He suddenly laughed sarcastically. "Yes, you are right, I can satisfy you. But that doesn't mean I can submit to this nonsense of yours, Young master. Just spread out my secret that you are proud to keep to threaten me. I don't care anymore."

Arsen frowned.

Lavi continued, "I hope I can exterminate someone like you one day."

-------

As Karna expected, the main gate of Bathara's palace was heavily guarded by four spear guards. They looked scary and looked ready to kill anyone. Because thought maybe the guard inside would be tighter than this.

Deene caught on to his partner's anxiety. "Are you scared?"

No answer, but Deene is sure Karna heard it. The man was just busy observing the situation. During their acquaintance with the man in the detention cell, they often argued over the muted strategy of the rebellion. The man also often explains his great analysis.

"We're going to go the front way, making the fuss in the back too risky."

"I thought the same," Deene replied, and Karna's glanced back. "Yeah, generally the guard will be tighter at the back of the palace. The guards will make sure that intruders will come that way."

Karna didn't answer, put on his mask and walked towards the gate with light firm movements.

"If we get caught, I'll choke you to death, Mr. Karna."

Karna glanced at him expressionlessly. "I'll just take Lavi away, the rest I don't care."

Really love for the brother who entered the terrible stage. After going through all this, Deene wasn't even surprised if the two brothers suddenly became lovers. He doesn't have any brothers, but is it possible that all the brothers will behave like that to his younger siblings? Too protective.

"In a moment Lavi will be on your back, I'm sure."

The guards were shocked at their presence. The four people immediately aimed their spears to block them. Deene easily caught the stick as the tip pointed at Karna. Things turned around when Deene cornered the two of them with two spears, they both fell because of his fists while the other two surrounded Karna.

"Call the troops! We have an intruder!"

Deene made a gesture to scrape his ear. "Can you be quiet?"

The two guards sat on the ground trembling. Deene grumbled that he had to fight against a cowardly guard like this.

"Actually I don't want to kill you, but you guys are too loud."

The two swords he was carrying stuck right into the hearts of the two guards. Meanwhile, the other two have fallen at Karna's hands in the same way. Deene opened the large gate with an unpleasant squeak and saw that there weren't as many guards there as Karna had expected. But they look strong and wear swords.

Deene whispers to Karna, "You go, I'll face them."

Without wasting any time, Karna immediately darted shrewdly to several parts of the palace and slid the door along the corridor slowly. He peeked without making a sound. In fact, those sleeping on the spot weren't disturbed by the noise ahead. Naturally, they fell asleep in the far northern part of the palace. Deene was a great fighter and could knock out several people with his lethal left punch technique. Let alone the ten guards, more than that Deene was very capable.

Karna felt lucky to bring Deene with him. Next time he will thank the man. The final door slid slowly when Karna opened it. His gaze flashed, he saw Lavi there. Sleep soundly on a thick floor mattress. Karna jumped quickly inside, then shook his brother's shoulder.

Lavi frowned, until he finally opened his eyes. "You—"

Karna clamped his mouth tightly. "It's me, Lavi."

Lavi looked incredulous when he heard that voice that was very similar to Karna's voice. What did the man come for in his black robe and mask?

"Brother?"

Karna opened his mask and made Lavi sit down from his position.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'll take you away," replied Karna curtly. Lavi shook his head firmly while looking at Karna who was observing his body. "Where did you get hurt?"

Lavi didn't care about the question at all. "What do you mean? You shouldn't have come here, you could be caught by the guards."

"Deene got it over with."

"Deene?"

Karna nodded, but then came the sound of quick footsteps followed by Deene's screaming and cursing. Karna immediately put his mask back on while pulling his brother's hand.

"I don't want!" refused Lavi. "Get out of here quickly!"

"What are you saying? I'm not leaving without you."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not now. It's very dangerous outside."

"It's more dangerous here."

Lavi shook his head, how do you make Karna understand?

"Please," Lavi pleaded.

"Kiril!" Suddenly there was another shout from outside, it was Arsen's voice. "You face him, I'll see Lavi."

A moment later Lavi glanced again at Karna, this time he had completely forgotten his pride. To be honest, Lavi doesn't want his brother to meet Arsen and they fight.

"Brother, please go away. I promise to see you later. The palace guards are on guard outside."

Those words are exactly what Lavi said when they separated after Karna escaped from Bathara prison. And even though they promised to meet, in fact Lavi didn't keep his promise at all.

"I'm sorry, Lavi," said Karna in a low voice. Lavi couldn't digest what happened next as he felt pain in several parts of his body and lost consciousness.

tbc.