Chapter 17: Yujin, The Firus Manipulator

Chapter 17: Yujin, The Firus Manipulator

“It’s good that Jade is not here, I don’t want her to see me using this anyway.”

Yujin’s red eyes gleamed. One hand of his formed a fist while the other gripped on his knuckles. A red flame beautifully grew like licorice, slowly engulfing his palms and spreading through his hand. The boy’s mouth was in a gap, mesmerized by the brilliant red flame that was coming off Yujin's fist.

“Now I’m pissed off…” Yujin warned.

Those turquoise eyes of Edward which reflected Yujin inside it grew widely, just like the boy who was floating mid-air, they couldn’t take their eyes off of it as they were both in awe. ‘So he decided to use it huh?’ Edward thought, shifting his eyes wide quickly into a sharp glare. “How could I forget how magnificent those flames are.” He muttered to himself.

The boy who was still floating, glanced at Yujin, and was staring intently at him, his golden eyes flashed making it look like of an owl’s, his hands which covered in his pale skin were shaking, but it was not because of fear, rather excitement, like blood rushing all over his body, like some sort of energy, fueling an aggressive hunger to engage in a fight. His fingers twitched excitingly and not just a moment; a wicked smile curled on his lips.

“Now that's what I've been waiting for,” the young man drawled with a lilting accent which sounded like a cold wind sending shivers to one’s skin. “I just came here to play but it seems things are getting much more favorable.” He said without letting his smirk go on his face.

Yujin scanned over the boy before he responded, “Wouldn’t it be bad for you? You see, I don’t want to kick a kid’s ass, how pitiful would it be seeing you beaten in pulp?” He eyed the boy with a smirk.

Self-satisfied smile played across the boy’s thin lips and he barked a laugh, almost mocking that echoed off the school ground. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, why don’t we play and find out?” He said, locking his pair of golden eyes, his deep black iris formed into a thin line. He must be strong because he said such a thing. He must have said he would bet because he was confident but on the other hand, Yujin, who was standing before him, hadn't made any move... It’s too early to judge.

“Be my guest!” Yujin’s hands spread out before his eyes speak and with an intense force, he made a giant leap from the snowy ground and was almost flying! He tried to punch the boy with flames in his fist but the boy perfectly dodged it, and with a maneuver of his arms, the snow below them started to move, forming into countless snowballs that levitate also in the air, standing by. Yujin looked around him as he was being surrounded by the objects, then looked at the boy.

With a smile and confidence, he clicked his finger and the snowballs rapidly shot towards Yujin. The red-head’s eyes grew in surprise, he landed on the ground safely and with his quick judgment, he aimed both of his arms and released a massive amount of flames around him forming a defensive wall. Not even a single of the snowballs managed to pass through the hot and bright yellow-red flames. The flames vanished revealing Yujin in the center of it and was still smirking.

“Not bad, not bad, but I’m afraid it would take more than that to beat me!” He shoved his arms and released a bursting flamethrower from both of his palms, it was powerful and hot enough to make the snow beneath him melt and made the silver-head boy caught off guard, he gasped and flew swiftly in the air barely dodging the flames letting the ends of his garments got burned.

“T-That was good…” The boy said, breathing heavily. “But how do you intend to dodge this?!” He raised one of his arms upwards and started amassing snow from the surroundings. All of the snow slowly gathered above the boy, including from the trees, the roof and the ground. It was like a huge cloud that later formed into a giant snowball that prevented the moonlight from passing through, Yujin who’s witnessing the superb attack gulped nervously and looked around frantically.

“That… looks really cruel… You’re not planning to kill me right?!” He shouted below and swallowed the lump in his throat.

“That depends if you managed to dodge this, let’s play bowling!” The silver-head boy screamed before he breathed heavily, the humongous amount of snow above him pleased him highly, as it took some of his strength just to throw it away towards Yujin!

That made the red-head stiffened. “Ack!” He screamed and vigorously turned his head searching for a safer place to avoid the incoming attack! He was in panic and decided to run, screaming so loud while the huge pile of snow had landed on the ground and was following behind him like some sort of a video game. Noctis and Edward who was still trapped in their own luck both gave a bored look at each other before looking at their friend who’s running with all his might from the giant snowball.

Yujin continued to scream while the boy above him was laughing hard at his hapless situation. “How dare you laugh at me like that!” He turned backwards glaring at the boy but regretted it eventually after seeing the big trouble behind him. He continued to run and was screaming helplessly like a kid, he saw ahead the building which he remembered was the school’s laboratory building which immediately brought up a not-so-good idea. Considering the size of the snowball behind him, if it hit the building, there’s a chance that the things inside it, including the laboratory tools will shatter and break into pieces and he does not want that.

“No! No! No! There’s no way I will let that building be destroyed!” He hurried over and made huge leaps giving enough distance between him and the giant snowball. He stopped running and faced it and waited for the right time. Behind him was the laboratory building, his lips turned down in a frown and positioned himself. Flames once again grew from his fists beautifully and this time he was amassing mana. The mana glowed into a faint red light around the flames and after a split-second just right before the giant snowball reached him, he kneel down the snowy ground and pressed his hands on it. The flames from his fist quickly crept on the ground then rose right in front of him and created a wall made of fire.

The yellow-red hot flames grew for almost thirteen feet protecting Yujin and the building behind him, however considering how huge the snowball is, Yujin was being pushed backwards and was put into a pinch, he bit his lips while sweat blew from his forehead. He bent his body forward and raised both of his arms and was trying desperately not to be pushed back. His muscles became tense as he roared and garnered all of his force, making the wall of fire thicker and hellish, malevolent like a lashing beast from the underworld. The sleeves of his coat got burned into crisp from the intense heat but that paid off as the snowball stopped from moving and almost half of it melted.

“H-Hey! That’s dangerous, you know?!” Yujin barked and looked up at the boy, the other one giggled in response. He eyed the red-head and then smirked cockily again, before folding his arms over his chest and opening his mouth speaking…

“Relax, I’m just playing. If you’re troubled by this kind of tricks, then you’re poorly weak! I suggest you must bid farewell to that girlfriend of yours,” he scoffed as he gestured his hand.

Yujin didn’t like the sound of that in his ears, his ruby eyes darkened in hate and stare at the young boy. “Hold it right there.” He said, voice low and threatening, pointing his fingers up to where the boy is. “I didn’t remember agreeing with your stupid games just to let Jade go. All this bullcrap is getting on my nerves, it’s getting boring actually. Mind if you start throwing some serious fights or… aren’t you that strong enough?” Yujin didn’t say another word and just stood there right where he was.

The boy smirked cockily then laughed wickedly that echoed throughout the place. “I was just controlling myself because of my master’s order but I guess there’s no problem killing you huh?! If you’re desperately begging for it then have a taste of this!” He bended his arms and gathered snow around him before he lanced it to the red-head! Yujin wasn’t fazed and quickly dodged the attack, the impact was strong enough to make small craters on the ground, one hit of it and he could have broken bones! He rolled through the ground before he shot balls made of fire rapidly aiming for the boy.

The silver-head covered himself in thick snow and braced himself for the series of fire attacks, but it was too strong and hot for the snow to stop it, it effortlessly broke through and the boy got hit by the fireball. He uses both of his arms to protect himself but lets his pearly-white sheets of clothes that were wrapped in his arms get totally burned. He groaned in pain as he hit the ground hard.

Both Edward and Noctis remained silent as they both watched the maneuvers of random attacks between the two. Edward thought, ‘He just said that he has a master, so someone's doing this aside from him? Who could it be? Could it be from the kingdom? But that would be impossible, we should have felt their presence the moment they entered this city.’ He was in the middle of his thoughts until he heard a familiar voice from afar.

“Noctis!” Pearl screamed at the top of her lungs, the ravenette forced himself to turn his head. He was surprised when he saw not only Pearl but also Janine and Glory running towards them.

“W-What are you doing here?” He unbelievably asked.

“Questions will be answered later!” Glory responded then she hastily drew out a wooden sword, she inhaled deeply and the mana instantly gathered in it, she easily cut the mana strings that kept the boys immobile.

“Thanks. You’re getting the hang of using that,” Edward commented as he was finally released from being stuck on the mana strings and turned to Glory.

“There’s no need for praise. It’s still difficult for me to transfer my mana to this sword.” She replied with a frown on her face. Edward only smiled gently and looked at Janine. “You’re not hurt?” he asked with a little concern in his tone.

“I should be the one asking you that,” Janine replied plainly.

“Are you okay?” Pearl asked worriedly as she approached the ravenette.

“I’m fine, what are you doing here?” He replied while fixing his black coat. Pearl was relieved as she held her chest before her attention got caught by the immense clashing of mana right in front of them.

“W-Wait is that…?” She blinked repeatedly and tilted her head uncomfortably as she saw her red-head friend. It’s as if she was watching two beams of lights clashing at each other, one being colored white and the other, red. Her eyes stared at it for long as she was studying the two, brilliant flames presently grew in Yujin’s fists and some bruises covered his handsome face, his coat got eaten up and had some trails of being burned. “I… don’t understand. What is going on here? How in the world Yujin has flames burning in his fist?” She questioned before she nervously shifted back to the boys.

“That…” Edward spoke. “It's a part of a secret that we’ve been keeping from all of you,” the girls couldn’t respond to just what they heard and remained their eyes on their friend.

Pearl gulped nervously and looked back to the red-head. “So that powerful mana we felt was coming from… Yujin?” She asked herself, her mouth partly open. First of all she couldn’t get the grasp of what sight is in front of her, second, she prepared herself for unnatural things to occur but she guessed that she’s still not ready. “I mean! How are the flames not hurting him?!” She shouted in surprise, then panicked and ruined her own hair. Her voice was loud enough to make Yujin notice their presence and shifted his gaze to their direction.

“Pearl?” He muttered to himself before he actually noticed that his friends were no longer trapped. He felt a relief because of that and let out a breath, at least he will now focus alone on the enemy in front of him.

“So that is the guy who kidnapped Jade?” Glory asked, looking at the young boy who’s currently fighting Yujin. Unlike the first time she met the mysterious boy, this was her chance to see him closely and study his features. Skin that was pale as if blood was not dwelling inside him, white clothing that seemed like those modern kimonos. Also, there were like, some kind of, what is it? Feathers? Around his neck, each with black spots at the end of it, and ivory white hair which perfectly suit his young and adorable face. She stared at him for a few more seconds before she felt some kind of anxiety growing inside her chest and before she knew it, a lump was formed inside her throat.

“Glory?” Janine grabbed her friend on her shoulders. The soft-honey head girl shifted uncomfortably before she looked at her friend, nodding slowly.

“Don't look to me that you’re fine, what is it?” Janine asked.

“I-It’s just it feels like I already met that boy. It’s kinda weird though, I know this is just the second time I saw him,” she explained uncomfortably and continued to follow her eyes at the young boy.

“He may look like a kid but he’s quite troublesome,” Edward snuck into the conversation and that made the two surprised and uneasy.

“A-Anyway, is that some sort of Ganlon that Yujin is using?” Glory asked curiously as she turned to Edward and Noctis.

The two exchange stares at each other before the ravenette looked at Glory and answered, “No.” That answer left the girls quite surprised and was unsettled.

“Then what is it?”

Edward’s eyes turned into a sharp glance as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Actually there are three stages in mana control. The first stage, the basic and the easiest to achieve, you’re all familiar with and that’s the ability to fuse your mana to any kind of objects to be a weapon, just like how you Glory and Janine are able to do. The other side of this first stage is the Ganlon spells, which I think I didn’t need to explain.”

“In other words, the first stage is about exerting mana as a wide variety of spells which we called Ganlon while the other is by focusing it into an external source, right?” Glory asked confidently like answering a graded oral recitation.

“Correct, my dearest student.” Edward smiled in delight, which made Glory frown. Then he continued, “To master delicate mana control and to utilize it in offense and defense somewhat resulted in some changes of how it was being used. It was written in our history that certain instances led the user to accidentally activate an advanced and more difficult mana control, it was way more powerful and at the same time dangerous, we called it manipulation.” Edward echoed which made the girl's face turn into a slight confusion and their eyes asked for more explanations.

“Manipulation?” Janine asked.

Edward raised his head a little facing Janine. “Manipulation, it heightens a battler’s combat capabilities or individual traits to its utmost limits. It is somehow similar to Ganlon spells, the process is to use one’s own mana to produce such powerful attacks but the catch is, manipulation is inborn and unique to each other as it accustomed itself depending on the user.”

“Accustomed itself? What’s that supposed to mean?” Several questions from the girls followed as the explanation went deep.

“I don’t really understand it either.” Edward put his thumb under his chin as he looked into a different direction searching for an answer before turning back to the girls. “But I remember back then, when we were still in the academy, our professor often told us that mana is actually alive and has its own thinking, it reacts to its user and manifests itself. She said that mana is the physical embodiment of the spirit, when the mana of an organism connects to the spiritual flow of nature, the mana forms a new body, as a product of that connection, and that is what we called manipulation. She even told us that mana is a friend that extends itself in any ways to support its user. Though mana goes beyond explanation. Honestly, I don’t quite understand what she meant by that but it made me wonder about the origins and mystery of mana.” He explained reaching the depths of his memory, while watching the girls as he waited to see if they caught a grasp of what he was talking about.

“Anyway, we called the user, manipulators and there are mainly two types, the caster and holder. Casters expelled their manipulation from their body and as for Holders, it requires an external source or tools to produce their manipulation. Manipulations are categorized too by how it was being used, equipped, or summoned. For Yujin he has the elemental manipulation, and he’s a caster type. Basically he specializes in Firus Manipulation.”

“Firus Manipulation, sounds cool.” Glory commented, almost whispering to herself.

“Yujin’s Manipulation let him transform some of his mana into flames. The flames are dangerous enough to everyone except to its user. Its form depends on how strong and skilled the user is, but I must say that different people get different abilities. Even Noctis and I have different Manipulations.” Edward explained further.

Glory nodded slowly, frowning a little before she took a glance at Edward. “W-Wait did you just say that both of you have your own Manipulations?” Edward only nodded and beamed.

“Heeey?” It was Pearl. “I do really appreciate all the lectures and stuff but don’t you think Yujin needs our help?” She suggested as she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder to the red-head’s direction.

“There’s no need to worry about him.” Noctis muttered. Pearl had no idea what the ravenette meant but apparently it seemed like Edward agreed. Noctis took a quick glance at Pearl before returning to the red-head. “Look at him, he’s enjoying this fight. I know you understand what I mean by that.”

Pearl stiffened a little as she stared at her friend, watching from the distance, she got the grasp of what Noctis told her. It was weird for her but Yujin was smiling despite being in a fight, that smile painted on his face was quite different from what she always saw. A smile that seemed to appear only when one’s self is hiding nothing. Then she remembered what Edward said,

“That is a part of a secret that we’ve been keeping from all of you.”

When those words echoed in her mind, something about it made her release her breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She thought in the back of her mind, “How hard must it be for them to hide their true colors from almost everyone on this planet? It has no difference from being a wanted criminal hiding from the law enforcers.” Pearl slowly held her chest and gulped nervously. “For them, this is the only way to speak who they really are. Within those majestic and bright flames is the real Yujin.”

Janine approached Glory and whispered. “I thought you were going to tell us something?”

Glory slapped her forehead and groaned in pain after that, it made everyone look around her weirdly, “How could I forget?” She muttered to herself. “We came here to tell you guys something,” She looked eagerly at Noctis and Edward.

“What is it?”

“I don’t really know if this is useful or what but, we found out that kid has no voice print,” she said hesitantly, almost feeling awkward on what she just uttered.

“Voice print?” Noctis raised a brow and frown. “What is that?”

“You know, it’s kinda similar to a fingerprint.” She said almost doubting herself, explaining it to the boys.

“Basically it’s like an ID for people,” Pearl added, then shifted her eyes to the ravenette who was having a hard time absorbing the idea from the girls.

“What about it?”

“Okay listen, so earlier, Pearl and I tried to trace the call of that kid for the sake of possibly locating where he could have been hiding Jade, but it turned out failed since the call has no voice print. So, we tried to compare Yujin’s voice in the machine and we found out that he has a voice print.”

“I’m confused.” Noctis averted his eyes for a moment.

“What I’m pointing is, we assumed that you and that weird, psychotic kid probably came from the same planet. If that is so, then why does he have no voice print?” Glory explains further while her hands gesture.

“I get it,” Edward mumbled to himself which made Glory sighed in relief but it was immediately surprised

“GET AWAY!!!” They heard a scream, and also shouted in panic as they saw Yujin who was being skyrocketed to their direction! Before they could even dodge Yujin who was flying towards them, already landed on the ravenette and knocked him down!

“Fuck it!” Noctis mumbled in annoyance in the ground as the heavy body of the red-head was all over him, his face on the ground.

Yujin on the other hand was groaning in pain, holding his head. “M-Man! I’m seeing a lot of chirping birds around me!” He said wistfully like someone who received a dizzy punch.

“One! Two! Don’t make me count to three!” Noctis started counting and warned even though his face was still plastered on the ground, that made the red-head hurriedly get off the ravenette and backed away. Noctis stood up immediately with some of his face covered in snow. “I think I ate some snow.” He whispered hatefully. Pearl gasped and immediately reached him.

“Are… you okay?” Edward asked awkwardly as he studied the red-head.

“Do I look like one?!” Yujin answered as he gritted his teeth, checking if his arms are still functioning, before they heard an annoying laugh. They all glare at the boy above them who was bursting in laughter, holding his stomach.

“You look pathetic!!!” He pointed out Yujin before laughing to himself in tears, kicking his feet in the air as he couldn't control his feelings.

“I’m going to smack that fucking bastard!” Yujin was about to lose all his patience, he clenched his fist and made it sound but Edward suddenly grabbed him in his shoulders, stopping him. “What?!” He turned back and growled.

“Hold on, I’m going to prove what Glory is suggesting,” they all looked at Glory which made the girl raise a brow.

“What?” She asked.

Edward looked at everyone before speaking, “This is just a wild guess but it’s worth a try and it will also benefit Yujin,” he eyed the red-head.

“I’m listening,” Yujin responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Revealing that guy has no voice print means it has no physical body.” Edward stated that made everyone confused and doubtful of what he said.

“Explain further,” Noctis demanded.

“I will repeat that this is just a personal hunch. That boy may be similar to us but what made him different that he has no voice print like us? If we really came from the same planet, there shouldn’t have been any difference.” Edward explained curiously as he rubbed his temples.

“The point is?” Noctis asked. Edward stared at him and said,

“We’re going to find out if this plan succeeds.”

“Great! What’s the plan?” Yujin clapped his hand in excitement before he gave his friend a perplexed look as Edward put his arms around his shoulder and smiled at him innocently.

*****

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Yujin deadpanned, looking around waiting for him to be skyrocketed again. “Why should I be the one doing this?! It should’ve been Noctis!”

“Shut up Yuu,” Noctis drawled, folding his arms over his chest. “I thought you wanted to punch that guy?” He asked, his obsidian eyes narrowing. “If you want, then you’re the best candidate for this plan.”

“You didn’t land a punch on him right?” Edward added as he was preparing himself and took a deep breath.

“Oh shut up!” Yujin complained, rolling his eyes and hissed at his two friends, which only to earn himself a sharp glare from the ravenette. Actually he’s in doubt at the moment if he could really call them friends.

“Then it’s worth a try!” Edward beamed at him then tapped his cheeks gently and walked behind him.

His face frowned a little as he pressed both of his palms at each other before he started the incantation. “Spiteful winds from the land of the Phoenix, heed my vengeance against the guardians and come forth! I progress the sixty-second Ganlon!”

“Windy!” He cast the Ganlon and a blasting wind with a shape of like a giant dragonfly came forth beneath Yujin and he blasted in the air like some sort of a baseball! The girls watched him fly off the sky so fast.

“Amazing.” They response in unison while the red-head was screaming in all his might at the extreme speed, he can almost tell that his mouth were going to take off his face but moments later and as he was reaching high and near the target, which is the silver-head boy, he was laughing, enjoying the speed. “This was actually fun!” He screamed in delight.

On the other hand, the silver-head peered at the distance as he saw a flashing light quickly approaching him. “W-What is that thing?” He asked himself, he didn’t like the feeling he had so he moved further to check the incoming light further but at the moment he realized what is that, rather, who was that; he started panicking!

“ARE YOU SERIOUS???” He asked loudly, almost screaming before he could try to make a run from it.

Yujin, who was fast approaching his target, started to release flames all over his body, like some sort of air missile which was covered in fire, he was smiling cockily.

He already prepared his fist aiming for the boy, the silver-head's attempt to manipulate the snow around him to cover and protect himself from the incoming attack but it was too late as Yujin already slugged him hard on the jaw, it even left a burn on his face from before knocking him to the snowy ground gasping! It was so strong that it made cracks on the ground leaving the boy unconscious with his eyes and mouth all opened.

Noctis, who captured almost everything in his sight, made a grin and utter to himself, “Bull’s eye.”