THE TRIBULATIONS OF A VULGAR II

At this point everyone standing close could feel the chilling aura around the whole place causing them to shudder slightly.

Tears slowly dropped down Mohawk's pale face, and he didn't even seem to realize it, his mouth twitched continuously as he grabbed onto his other hand with the latter forcefully as though trying to stop himself from doing something, the creeping ice had now reached his groin region and seemed to still keep on moving up his body and worst off his adversary still seem to have any form of wavering in her attack.

Finally his resistance had faltered and he immediately broke down into tears and pleading,

"Please….please I beg you, don't freeze me. I swear…I swear on my pecker never to bother you or your friends no more…please don't kill me, I was just having a little fun with an old acquaintance…I never really meant to do the things I said I will."

Vanora who seemed to consider his plea for a while, finally retracted her hands as a slight smile formed on her face.

"Well I guess history most times is bound to repeat it's self…eyy?" She said in a mocking tone as she slowly walked back into the bushes she had walked out of before being followed by Kairos and then the other two familiar looking figures.

"Hey…don't leave me here like this, am still stuck in your ice." Mohawk screamed at the exiting back of the group of four but got no reply, he then turned over to where his goons once stood but discovered even them had made a run for it.

***

Deep inside the bushes, Kairos and the other three relaxed on the green soft grasses in silence for a while, so much that the eolian sound of the breeze could be heard.

"Well your element manipulation on water seems to have grown a long way." Kairos broke the silence with his voice as he commended Vanora who laid down with her eyes shut and her expression relaxed.

"Yeah…but not so much to freeze Mohawk fully." Vanora casually replied.

"Huh?" The people to show surprise this time were the two who bore a striking resemblance, Aidan and Nadia.

"Yeah…I might already be considered a prodigy by most considering I can already manipulate water into ice at my young age, but despite that the Mana my body can absorb now is still low."

"...I had already expelled most of the Mana in my body just from the little display I had with Mohawk…the fool would have noticed my face pale if he hadn't been eaten up by fear…to be honest I was just outright lucky I didn't fall unconscious due to lack of mana." Vanora explained with a sigh.

"Ohh." The other three said in unison before the group grew quiet once more, each casually resuming their own various activities of throwing tiny pebbles, relaxing on the grass or just sitting quietly.

"You know in a few days from now, the ceremony of competence for recently turned adults would be held, and we would be required to choose a field of line of job which we would be following…what have you guys got in mind?" Kairos broke the silence once again with his question.

"Don't you guys think it's crazy how it feels like just yesterday we were still kids, not bothered about life or a future job or something like that. And would just wallow in sleeping and playing…we literally had all the time in the world, but now…now we barely even have time to see each other and what's even more crazy is we haven't even picked a job yet." Aidan complained tiredly as he casually threw small pebbles to the ground.

"Well you don't have to bother much on choosing a job for the ceremony of competence little brother, the Island's chief might not even consider you an adult, not with that wooden doll you carry around with you everywhere." Nadia said mockingly, causing Aidan to immediately cough up.

"Shabi isn't a doll, he is an artifact…a mature artifact, and it's perfectly normal for a grown person to always have one with him." Aiden immediately replied back defensely.

"Yeah keep telling yourself that…petulant." Nadia immediately replied, this time bursting into serious laughter.

Aiden seemed to have grown weary of his twin's sister harassment, as he angrily stood up on his feet his gaze focused intently at her, his hands stretched out causing a couple of pebbles around to begin vibrating before shooting towards his sister, all at once.

Nadia tried covering her face and hitting off some of the pebbles with her hand and had managed to avoid some but got hit by the rest.

"Oh you wanna play rough then…well two can play at that game." Nadia said, her tone sounding somewhat annoyed, as she equally raised pebbles of her own before sending it towards her brother.

The fight had continued for a while, with each party continuously manipulating pebbles towards each other with curses and insults as well without showing any sign of tiring out.

Kairos and Vanora simply stared quietly at the siblings bickering for a while before casually returning back to their relaxed positions.

"Well I asked my dad to help me ask your dad to let me join their Security Squad, and to be honest it's the perfect fit for me. I get to kick the arse of trouble makers and law breakers while increasing my mana ability considering I would also be fighting a lot of loose monsters and troublesome manipulators…it's just what I need at the moment to increase my control on the Mana around and in me." Vanora said casually, her expression relaxed and undisturbed by the bickering happening nearby.

"Ooh…that's nice." Kairos simply commended before growing quiet again.

"How about you, what path do you have in mind to follow?" Vanora immediately asked, causing Kairos to jolt up slightly, before relaxing back again.

"Oh me?...well nothing much, just plan on joining a military training center under the control of the Verdant Faction, then became a soldier under the Verdant Faction after the one year duration of my training and then find a way to raise my ranks and influence in the Verdant Faction military section." Kairos casually replied, causing Vanora and even the twin that had been so formerly engrossed in their squabble to pause and stare at him confused.

Kairos had noticed their confusion and with a sigh, decided to slowly explain:

"You guys are aware of how the first great war was ended by the former general and now leader of the Aidre Faction, Adonis Eros?"

"Yeah, of course." Aidan replied.

"Not with how many times Miss Eleanor had repeated that story to us when we were younger." Nadia added, causing both parties to stare at each other dangerously before staring back at Kairos.

"...Well you guys would also know that war had lasted for over a century...which is quite a lot of years."

"Adonis Eros might be the most powerful element manipulator known to mankind but he is not immortal, he has grown old with the passage of time and the leaders of the other various factions seem to have noticed this."

"The hostility has grown so much that even we on an Island detached from every other region controlled by the different factions are very aware of it…then imagine what would happen if Adonis was to actually die?" Kairos finally asked, causing the other three to all ponder on his words.

"But then how does this have to do with your plan to join the military banner of the Verdant Faction?" Vanora asked out of curiosity.

"No matter how much we try to play it off or cover it up, we can't seem to hide the fact that a second great war is inevitable, and the fact that when this war happens the world would need another Adonis else humanity would plunge into its own extinction with its hands."

"Someone would have to stand up and stand out to humanity's looming doom but why do so as late as Adonis, risking the lives of many when one could start the plans earlier, avoiding many futile deaths and destruction." Kairos explained.

Vanora simply shook her head in understanding while the other two stared at Kairos like they were staring at a mad man.

"And why the military section of the Verdant Faction?" Vanora asked again.

Kairos stared at Vanora for a while before replying in indifference.

"Inorder to stop a looming war, one must at least have a military correlation with one of the four big factions at war, besides military power and influence would also be a major tool in ending the war and putting the other factions in check.

"…Besides that, the Verdant Faction is the only faction that has some sort of relationship with the Island and my father, so it's currently the only faction with a military training center I have a chance of getting into."

Vanora also nodded in understanding, before standing up her feet, her cold eyes staring intently at Kairos who was still seated on the soft grass.

"So you just plan on getting killed earlier?" Vanora asked in a cold tone with her eyes seriously fixated on Kairos who immediately stared back at her.

"Do you even understand what you just said in real life…an insignificant child threatening to go up against the four big factions, something even people with considerable power haven't thought twice about…if there's gonna be a second Adonis I'm very certain it won't be you."

"...Even your chances of joining the Verdant Faction military training center is like a chance of snow in hell. You think they would just let anyone that claims to want to join their military section in?" Vanora continued her ranting towards Kairos while the twin would occasionally nod to show support of her ideals.

"Today you have made me question your sanity after this madness of a plan of yours…your chances of survival in this island alone is not guaranteed then what makes you think you would survive so long outside this Island as a-." Vanora suddenly paused as though remembering something, her cold and angry expression seemed to slowly disappear, as she stared at Kairos somewhat apologetically.

But Kairos who had been seated all this while, slowly stood up, picking up the sword in the process, he then stared at Vanora and then the twin for a while, before replying in a calm indifferent tone.

"As a what? A Vulgar?...It doesn't give me much pain when others call me that…But when my friends and people I care about call me a liability…"

A smile suddenly etched Kairos face, his blue eyes seemed to have lost their sparkle as he stared at the ground for a while before staring at Vanora once more.

"Well while a Vulgar and liability who will die soonest busies himself finding a solution to an imminent threat to humanity…so called all powerful element manipulators like you people rather indulge yourself in irrelevant bickerings and duels, so tell me how is the world going to get a second Adonis on time."

The other three had grown quiet after Kairos's speech and their expression had turned grave and apologetic but Kairos didn't seem to give much thought to that as he began walking out the bushes.

"I just remembered I've got other things to do." He said in a sombre tone as he exited the bushes.

"Kairos wait!!" Vanora called out to him but didn't get any response.

Kairos who didn't seem to want to stop even after hearing his name being called suddenly did but without turning his face, said in a somber but calm tone:

"Because I decide not to waste my time fighting with a town dolt…who despite how many times is beaten would still indulge in his lunacy isn't enough justification to call me weak or measure my life span." He said before completely disappearing from sight.