THUNDER AND WRATH PT2

Kalen's pov

I turned around to see Langris with his typical innocent smile and was slightly marveled. Clearly this man wasn't fond of him yet he didn't let a hint of anxiousness show on his face, like he expected this.

'Langris what did you do'

I asked my voice laced with haste and anger, his gaze didn't face me but neither did mine as we both trained our eyes on the monster in front of us, but he replied

"you mean what did we do"

before I could make sense of his words the pressure surrounding us increased even more as the man in front of us reach a new height in rage, that was when I made the call. The other Dons had just arrived when the man vanished, I turned my neck so fast it almost snapped as my eyes barely managed to catch him stopping in front of Langris and tapping him with his cane, it wasn't a true attack, just a gentle tap to the chest yet Langris went flying. So fast I barely caught sight of him, his form blitzing at dizzying speeds, the man swiftly followed and so did I, our flight took us thousands of miles towards the edge of the coastline right above the sea as by that time although Langris was still moving fast he had noticeably slowed down.

Just as he righted himself the man appeared; another casual tap with the edge of his shoes and Langris flew at a similar speed into the waters below causing them to rise up and the ground to tremble, just as Raine and Samuel appeared behind me. The man finally turned to us, his face was impassive lacking any of the emotions I had seen I him barely a second ago as he stared at us, feeling his gaze I could sense both Sam and Raine falter, Raine seemed to be trying to jerk out of her reveier but Sam was completely stunned, and I couldn't blame him. Afterall the strongest person he had ever known was lying on the ground showing no signs of recovery only after a less than a second against this man, I could only commend his bravery for not immediately fleeing.

I charged him

'Black imperial style, weighted Black fist'

my fist flew directly into his open palm as he grabbed me easily nullifying my energy, he drew me off my balance and attempted to one tap me with his staff as he had done to Langris but I expected it stretching my foot to his unguarded elbow, not to attack but to hold it in place, he saw through my strategy as he shifted his head to the side dodging my sword which was aimed at the centre of his head, I had used sword kinesis to have it travel from Trident after me and thrust itself into his face but he seemed to have sensed it even though I made sure to hide my energy, the blade instantly twirled upon missing and made to strike him in the back but just as it was an inch from flesh it stopped and my mind was rocked, I felt the formless pressure I kept around my blade constrict as an unbearable weight pressed in on it, the will I was using to control my blade was being strangled and it could only be by the man in front of me, not many were capable of sword kinesis but even less could exert their influence on someone else's blade, it proved that even though he didn't hold a blade this man was at a higher level of swordsmanship than I.

As he held me Raine came up behind him with her sword and swung, it was an attack of frost ki that although not her best work was enough make him flinch more likely from discomfort than pain, that flinch gave me the chance to kick off from him and swing back, Raine was at my side and instant later when colossal tendrils of water stretched out from the sea and grabbed onto the man, i turned to see Samuel his arms wide as he visibly stained to hold back this man. Just as he was about to break the water turned green and a toxic scent filled the air, the fourth Don Kannie appeared soon with vicious ki swirling around him, the ki condensed into a mountain sized spear and slammed into the toxic jail with a hellish boom. Clouds of green smoke bellowed into the air its presence threatening to consume everything in sight

"who is this guy"

yelled Raine

'don't know'

"what does he want"

asked Kannie

'probably to kill Langris'

"why"

asked Sam

'I DONT FUCKING KNOW'

I didn't mean to snap at Sam, my outburst was moreso a product of fear, just as he asked his question the man in question released an omnidirectional blast of mana that swept away the remnants of the explosion to reveal his unharmed self leaving me quite distraught. My sword had returned to my side calmly waiting for instruction but in fear of losing control of it happening again I quickly grabbed it, in that moment all the memories came back, the first time I held a blade how I worked through the stances and forms the long hours I spent meditating after practice, the day my mother guided me through each step of the sorack style and eventually handed me this very same blade saying

"it's yours now"

I twirled it a bit as those memories came back to me and I felt it, my will as a swordsman that threatened to break brushed away the pressure before reforming itself, newer and better than before, I felt my comrades gawking at me just as i felt the shocked gaze of the man in front of me but I didn't care. Black ki spread out from my body before leaping onto my sword spreading out like ink on a paint brush. The blade responded with more clarity than it ever had In my entire life as I felt it, the world was a canvas and my blade urged me to paint

'black imperial style swallowing moon'

a surge of ki both wild and tame spread out from my blade flowing like water. It evoked a sense of naturality in the world, the blue suited man simply held his staff forward and just as the attack reached him it was blown away with no additional force reaching us, the same, the only attack he had used today. My comrades recoiled but I was undaunted or rather, I was on a roll

'self created form, black imperial style starless night'

no one knows the history of the black imperial style, it must have been jotted down somewhere but the scrolls must have probably turned to dust by now from time and wear, but every single move and technique is still recorded within the minds of its practitioners and has never been forgotten. Every single practitioner also knows that the last time a new technique was added to the style was over 200 years ago and it was called 'Slash of the shinigami' created by my father an unparalleled genius of his time, and before him the last time a new technique was created was over 6000 years ago.

If the last technique I used was the flowing of a rushing sea then this one was manifestation of the expanse, an endless space beyond our world which the empire theorised about but only barely confirmed its existence (author note: he means outer space) the forces of cold vast and empty hit him hard and fast leaving a trail of destruction behind him splitting the sea and stretching beyond the horizon causing immeasurable carnage, the attack enveloped him completely for several seconds before resinding only to leave behind its victim.

"how is he still alive"

cried Samuel

"it can't be"

said Kannie, his voice showed more shock than fear but I ignored it not taking my eyes of the man in blue as I spoke

'look, he's moved backwards'

their sights which were already heavily trained on the man leveled even further to confirm that I was right, three steps back, he had moved three steps back, he had his cane out and I had sensed him release the same attack he had done before, but this time he failed.

'He's releasing mana at us, he releases an incredibly powerful and dense mana at the attack, enough to blow us away. But the emission is so natural its indistinguishable from the natural flow of energy in the universe'

Raine nodded her head at my side proving she suspected as much but Sam's reaction simply plunged us into further despair

"wait, so he isn't using some sort of weird Arcanum on us"

despite the situation I couldn't stop myself from turning back to face him at those words. He must have mistaken the shock covering my face for want of an explanation because he continued with

"I thought he was using some weird Arcanum that we'd never heard of, you're telling me that this man has been sending us flying not with an Arcanum or sword ki or spells but with pure mana"

he voiced continued to raise in octave as he spoke, clearly he was speaking from fright, and I couldn't blame him. I was so pleased with myself for figuring out his trick and I was clearly still on a high after suddenly advancing my swordsmanship that I failed to consider my own words

"if it's him then it's definitely possible"

said Kannie

'who?'

I asked but no reply came, instead what resounded was a loud crash far behind us, the man had appeared in front of him and sent him flying with the same technique. I swung, my attack would have caught Raine in its reach but I assumed she'd forgive me so long as it landed on the man but he blocked with his staff, he pointed a finger me in order to use his mana blast again but Sam drenched him in water and Raine froze it in quick succession in order to stop him, they failed, he shrugged off the restraints like air as his finger moved unimpeded, just as he was about to launch I felt it

"edict of frozen time"

the flow of time around me had been jacked and the man was halted. The occurrence didn't even last a tenth of a second but it was enough and it was very welcomed, the attack the man launched this time was different from all the others but what he used on Langris as this time it possesed lethal intent, it didn't seek to create distance like all the other ones so far but to cause harm

'edict of consuming'

I cried as I blocked his attack with my sword, the black ki surrounding it instantly swallowed his move without a fuss before I swung back in order to counter attack, he blocked my blade again but this time I had a trick worth trying

'edict of devouring'

my ki flared up his staff in order to eat it and at that he responded by using the warp spell in order to get some distance. That was when it happened, a laser, a golden beam of scorching heat jutted out from below completely enveloping the man as it streaked into the sky, it split the air with a shriek as it tore through the heavens on a path towards the empty void above, steam filled my sights as all the moisture in the air for miles was clearly evaporated

'I was wondering when you'd show'

"the main character has to appear when the situation is at its most dire"

'you're telling me the situation has to get even worse before that guys shows up'

looking aggrieved at my snarky response was a blonde haired man dressed in flowing gold robes his golden eyes shinning like the sun(author note; Langris's eyes have been changed to gold) blood dripping down his lip with a bastard sword resting on his shoulder.

'your injuries'

"all internal thankfully that's where all the blood's supposed to be"

'if you can joke then we won't be organising your funeral anytime soon'

"I wouldn't agree with that, you see if we don't stop this guy then we'll all be dieing soon"

his words didn't match the cocky smirk on his face but I chose not to comment

"who the fuck is this guy"

Sam's voice came from behind me but I chose not to look in its direction, Raine was in his arms unconscious while he himself looked fairly tired, I let my senses linger on Raine for an instant in order to assess her situation, she had stopped supplying power to her artifact and had reverted to her true appearance but she's wasn't harmed merely exhausted, it seems whatever phenomena that granted me the ability to respond to the mans attack was her doing, only if we didn't resolve this I'd never be able to thank her

'Langris, I'd really like it if you gave yourself up.....'

his face twisted in despair, as if he'd been betrayed by someone he trusted wholeheartedly as he said

"but I thought we were friends"

naturally he faking the expression but I didn't care

'no we aren't and you didn't let me finish, I'd like you too, but that isn't likely to solve the problem, this man wants to fight and he doesn't want anyone knowing who he, that's why he's been making sure to attack anyone who's about to reveal his identity'

it was just a guess, bit it wasn't uncommon behaviour, especially strong martial artist often did this when encountering junior's who they believed had potential, they would also silence those who tried to spout their identities during the fight so that their opponents wouldn't get demoralised and surrender. I created a telephatic link between all three of us and spoke through it

'here's the plan Langris and I will charge him while Sam will run on the premise of going to get treatment for Raine, we'll stall for as long as possible before revealing to him that we've figured out who he is and and Sam has gone to go tell everyone hopefully that'll get him to leave'

I could feel their affirmation through the link as we began grafting the finer details of the plan, about two seconds later Sam yelled

"you guys stall I've gotta get help for Raine"

Langris and I instantly moved, charging at him with brave hearts and reckless abandon determined to do our duty, that's when he spoke

"Lightning Arcanum activate, special field release"

'"FUCK'"

we all mentally cried.