"MY SISTER DID WHAT?" Perseus screamed in anger as he could not believe the report he had just received.


    It seemed like Sophia had allocated considerable family resources in the past few days towards finding out who exactly Zhi Cook was, and after finding out everything there was to know about him, challenged him to a friendly duel.


    In Perseus''s mind, the challenge itself was unnecessary as he was a firm believer in keeping one''s true strength hidden and did not think that showing off what one was capable of in friendly spars was a good idea at all, however, even if he let Sophia''s nature of showing off slide, what he could not wrap his head around was how Sophia could lose to a monk?


    Zhi Cook was the Champion Of Buddha, a god who himself was passive and did not believe in fighting unless it was absolutely necessary.


    This made the techniques that he created and propagated, being centered more around defense rather than offense, whereas the techniques of Poseidon were designed to shake heaven and Earth.


    Sophia having been given explicit ess to the best family techniques at her tier should have easily been able to defeat Zhi, however, ording to the report, not only did she lose pretty badly, but she also made a mockery of family techniques which were now being mocked as useless within the Shaolin Monk University.


    "She''s a disgrace…. An utter disgrace…" Perseus said while seething in anger as he began to doubt whether Sophia was really his blood rted sister? Or someone that his father had adopted out of mercy?


    Although he did love his sister and was generally protective of her, that little soft spot that he had for her was beginning to fade fast ever since she had joined the university for nourishment of young talents and stepped foot into the tower.


    Ever since setting her foot outside floor 21, she had be a constant source of humiliation for the Olympian bloodline, aspared to other champions of her age, she was quite visibly underpetent.


    "As if being called inferior to the Champion Of Gemini wasn''t enough, she will now be mocked as being Zhi Cook''s little bitch too…..


    Defeated in 3 moves? How is that useless bitch even an Olympian?" Perseus wondered, as he wrote a scathing letter in anger, absolutely reprimanding Sophia for herck of proper judgment, using some harshnguage in his letter that was purposefully written to make her feel shame.


    ***********


    ( Meanwhile Sophia )


    Sophia began to sob uncontrobly after she received Perseus'' reprimanding letter a day after her defeat to Zhi.


    [ Sophia,


    What the hell were you thinking? I just got wind of yourtest stunt, and frankly, I''m appalled. Challenging Zhi Cook? And then losing so miserably? You''ve not only embarrassed yourself but you''ve dragged our family''s name through the mud.


    Did you forget what our techniques stand for? They''re designed to dominate, to showcase the power of the Olympian lineage, not to be unted in pointless duels that end in humiliation. What you''ve done is a disgrace to everything our family has worked for.


    Your actions have turned our revered techniques into aughing stock at the Shaolin Monk University. How do you expect to be taken seriously when you throw away our advantages so carelessly? You''ve made a mockery of our legacy.


    And to be defeated in three moves—what a spectacr failure. You''ve proven yourself not just ipetent, but a liability. I''m beginning to question if you''re really of Olympian blood or just a monumental mistake.


    You need to seriously reconsider your approach or step aside and stop dragging us down with you. Don''t bother replying until you''ve figured out how to rectify this disgrace.


    Perseus ]


    Her confidence was already at an all-time low after facing defeat against Zhi, however, the letter from her brother made it infinitely worse.


    In her heart, the only thing that she ever really wanted was to make her family proud and for the people around her to look at her with the same reverence that the people around her father looked at him.


    However, whenever she tried to do something that would help her gain street credit, it always ended in spectacr failure as Sophia started to feel genuinely depressed and under confident in her own abilities.


    *Sob* *Sob*


    Crying inconsbly, she began cursing herself for being so useless, her brother for being so inconsiderate, and Zhi for being an asshole.


    Her base nature did not allow her to me herself for anything for too long and hence although she did feel guilty about the mess she had created at first, it slowly evolved into her ming everyone but herself for her mistakes.


    *Knock* *Knock*


    Suddenly, as she was crying inconsbly in her dorm room alone, she heard someone knock on her door, prompting her to tidy up as best as she could before answering the door.


    "Yes?" She said, opening the door, as she was surprised to see Rocky standing outside, while being covered in dust and blood.


    "Rocky?" She asked, sounding surprised, as she did not expect him to show up at her dorm at all.


    "May Ie in?" Rocky said, looking at the empty room behind her, as Sophia gestured for him to enter, although she found his current body odor to be slightly repulsive.


    "Are you hurt?" She asked as a sign ofmon courtesy, however, Rocky shook his head and replied that he was not.


    "I actually just came back frompleting the floor 11 raid with Buhara and Erin, however, was summoned to Principal Liam''s office as soon as I was back-" Rocky said, as he proceeded to give Sophia a quick recap of what happened.


    Since today was a Sunday, Rocky alongside Erin and Buhara went on their weekly floor raid, which happened to be floor 11 this week.


    The quest that they received on floor 11 was to clear a kobold dungeon which the trio expertly did in under three hours, however, the dungeon was small and covered in coal, which forced Rocky to engage in a lot of soot covered close quarterbat, resulting in several gushes of hot kobold blood to ssh all over his body alongside dirty coal soot.


    While he had every intention of bathing upon his return, he was immediately summoned by Liam in his office when he was back, where Liam told him about Sophia''s challenge against Zhi and her pathetic defeat.


    Although Rocky was secretly thrilled to hear about Sophia''s humiliating defeat, he also understood the significance of this moment in breaking through her guard.


    Fully aware that Sophia would be exceptionally vulnerable after her loss, Rocky recognized a rare opportunity to prate her usually imprable defenses if he yed his cards right, and decided to head straight towards her dorm room, hoping to console her in this trying time.


    Narrating a slightly altered version of this tale, one where he portrayed himself to be extremely ''concerned'' for Sophia''s well-being after hearing about her defeat, Rocky tried his best to smooth-talk with Sophia, as he ced his hand over hers and looked straight into her eyes.


    "I can see the dried up tears on your cheeks…. If you want someone to talk to…. I''m here" Rocky said sincerely, as Sophia felt tears welling up inside her eyes when Rocky said these words.


    While her guard was usually up against Rocky, today as she was at her very rock bottom, she was looser than usual, as she allowed herself to sob with Rocky watching, giving in to the wall of tears that she was trying to hold back.


    "So Liam knows too…. Perfect, how perfect…. Did the Shaolin Monk University broadcast my loss to the entire tower in under 24 hours? So much for being monks…. They are not better than gossip girls" Sophia said, as she could imagine her reputation within the university taking another major hit after news of her defeat spread, as just thinking about it made her want to cry some more.


    *Sob*


    *Sob*


    "Sophia, don''t cry…. I for one don''t think you lost because you were inferior to him at all-" Rocky said, as he clutched her hand tight and looked deep into her eyes.


    "Huh? I was defeated in under three moves, Rocky….. I was not a match against him" Sophia said, rejecting Rocky''s sweet talk as even she found his im to be utterly ridiculous.


    "No, listen to me. I''ll tell you why exactly you''re looking at this wrong-" Rocky said, persisting upon his opinion as Sophia looked towards him with hope in her eyes.


    "Do you know how even the smallest fire can burn the whole forest under the right conditions?…. However, that same small fire bes powerless against small amounts of water?


    It''s just a case of you having a bad matchup. You''re fire and Zhi is water…. ording to what I heard, he''s just the type of fighter that''s your natural enemy.


    I don''t think he''s that strong…. I just think you''re not suited to beat him" Rocky said, trying to cook up some absurd logic to console Sophia, however, it worked like a charm.


    With Sophia''s tendency of believing that nothing was really ever her fault, she immediately epted Rocky''s exnation as if it was the most logical thing ever and beamed brightly.


    "You''re right! I''m an offensive fighter while that monk is slippery and defensive. He''s the worst nightmare for me and I was not even aware of his fighting style.


    If I fight him again, I won''t lose so pathetically at least.


    I was just taken by surprise and had the misfortune of facing a bad opponent-" Sophia said while nodding her head, as she seemed to find the perfect excuse to write in her letter back to her brother.


    "Exactly…. So don''t be sad…. I know big losses suck, especially for us champions who always have so many eyes on us, however, we must look past it-" Rocky said, striking while the iron was hot, as he managed to slide past Sophia''s defenses and managed to enter into a heart-to-heart chat with her.


    "You know Rocky, you''re the only one who treats me kindly…. Look at this letter that my brother sent me after my defeat, can you believe it? My own brother calling me a disgrace?" Sophia said, as she passed Rocky the letter written by Perseus, hoping that he could ridicule the letter with some absurd logic, just as he ridiculed her defeat, making her feel better.


    Clutching the letter and reading Sophia''s emotions perfectly with his aura eyes, Rocky began to act and talk with her precisely how she wanted him to, as he told her only sweet words that she wanted to hear.


    "My gosh, I can''t believe he really questioned your Olympian blood. Is that really your real brother? Are you sure he''s not adopted?" Rocky asked, as Sophia shook her head in dismay.


    "Look at you….. a younger brother trying everything you can to save your sister. Then look at him….. he''s really not deserving of being called my real brother-" Sophiained, as Rocky held back his smile.


    It was exactly such seeds of discord that he wished to nt within Sophia''s mind to eventually be able to manipte her and today he seemed to have taken the first step in that direction.


    ---------


    /// A/N - A single super long chapter today instead of two, as although the wordcount is over 1900 words, I don''t see any sense in breaking it in two parts. ///