A golden blade flashed at his chest, threatening to cleave him in two. He used his aura to him and met it with his own blade.
His adrenaline kept the altitude pumping — each step feeling like he was running on clouds.
The clang of metal forced tremors throughout the black brick church, sending debris and dust flying.
A second blade swept in a arc at his spine. He spun up, parrying the first blade outward while evading the second.
Being in the air left him vulnerable — well atleast for the old Kayui. He was different now.
He willed his aura to condense at a tight point at the bottom of his foot. The air shook and began to spin violently.
CRACK!
The released pressure shook the building even more. As the last pieces of foundation fell out of place it began to crumble — but the job was already finished
Kayui flew forward.
He tried to react but it was too late. The man's left arm shattered with a wet crunch as he brung his hands up to block.
He yelped in pain.
"Wait! My kids are still in the village!" He screamed as he fell back narrowly avoid a falling brick the size of an infant.
Kayui felt a twinge of guilt. His gut told him this wasn't right. Why were we attacking this village anyway?
Bricks careened out and the foundation finally gave. Dust clouds erupted blinding the two with brown smoke.
A cluster of debris blew into Kayui's face, taking away his sight.
He refocused himself and grabbed the broken man purely using his sense of hearing. He slipped out of the building before anything could hurt them.
He tossed the man to the dirt.
He rubbed his eyes, the grit of broken stone rolled down his face as his eyes watered.
"Don't try anything," he said drawing his sword, still rubbing his eyes.
"I'll do what you say, just don't hurt me anymore." He cried holding his mangled arm.
"Nice one, 8th grader." Kage said, dropping down from a rooftop.
"You talk a lot," Kayui said dropping his backpack.
He grabbed out a cuff with a pink crystal protruding out of it and snapped it around the man's neck along with matching handcuffs.
"Let's go. Find Modoru I'm ready to go home."
The stitch of rotted wood filled the air. A wafty brown mist could be seen from miles away above the village.
They both looked up. The source was visible as it was much thinning towards the center of the village.
Kage disappeared with a scoff.
He looked at the sad sight of a man in front of him with merciful eyes.
"Give me your name."
He looked up and met Kayui's gaze, his eyes filled with dispair and worry.
"It's Klein."
"I assure you're family is safe, Klein."
****
The silence hung in the air as they rode home.
A team of special opps took over the scene after a few hours and sent the three back on their way. They rode in a black military truck — plenty of space and accommodation to go around. Despite everything Kayui was buried in guilt.
'Am I a government pawn now?'
Thinking back to when they were given the mission, he remembered not truly having a reason to capture their leader — let alone capture their destroy their entire village.
This wasn't right. He knew it and yet he still did it.
He leaned back deep into his seat, the smooth sensation of cruising in the large truck soothed his nerves a little.
He knew he wouldn't be used like this again. Not if he could do something about it.
Not letting it ruin his train of thought he fell into a meditative state. His body felt like a bag of cement. His altitude was depleted, even after hours of rest.
His new ability, what he decided to call burst step, took a toll. Not to be confused with his aura propulsion.
Condensing large amounts of aura into one spot took much more energy than willing and releasing energy.
Even after one usage, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it again. Atleast for a while.
The threads of altitude floated around him. He didn't fully know what to do but it wouldn't hurt to try something new.
This time he didn't try and reach out for the altitude but, rather he tried to let his core be open to the energies.
The air inside the van rippled. Deep in his chest his core relaxed, letting his altitude flow cleanly within his body — contained completely within.
As multiple threads of altitude blew past him in the winds of the universe, he chose to focus on one.
The lone thread froze in place as if reacting to his will. It pulsed, once, twice, before finding a new path .
The thread began to fall towards him, as if his core had a magnetic pull.
The string fed into his chest as if it had belonged there all its life. No pain or discomfort. Only nourishment.
A hunger he had never knew he had was fed.
"Kayui," a hand hit his shoulder.
He let out a deep sigh as his focus shattered. His eyes opened, a faint yellow line appeared with his pupil before disappearing before anyone noticed.
The truck came to a halt. The blackout windows prevented them from seeing where they were. But Kayui had a good idea.
Around 11 altitude cores radiated outside. He sighed again, this time internally. He didn't hesitate to pop the door open.
The sun beamed into the van bathing the three young students in warmth and light in unison.
"Rank C my butt, those damned ranks are fake!"
"Tazreal, Language…" a soft voice chuckled.
"Welcome home you three, I'm happy to see you in one piece!" Mr. Kong said, swinging his bear-like hands showing his pleasure.
Kayui stepped out first, he could see the envy in the faces of some of his classmates. In total honesty, he didn't care one bit.
He shot a smile at Kenko, the twins and Tazreal.
His resentment towards Mr.Kong bled through his eyes as he walked right past the him and disappeared as fast as he arrived.