22

That man was a monster.

Thor and Rin had already witnessed his ruthlessness but may be that was not enough and that man had to possess a kemono as well.

Just their luck.

The snake hissed, bringing its large head down to its master's shoulder and that man raised his hand to pat its head.

A frown on his injured face, Rin moved his right leg forward, flexing his knee before he muttered,"FOURTH STANCE: BLAZING BLADE."

He raised his sword in front of his chest, gripping its handle firmly in both hands. The man patiently watched as the blade caught fire. A raging blue flame spread from its handle all the way to its tip.

Unlike Rin, the boy next to him had only steadied his grip on his spear.

That lightning mage was fighting at less than half of his actual strength and that man wasn't unaware of it for he was the one who had destroyed his snow white bird.

A kemono is only as strong as its bond to its master.

That was invariably the first thing the students were taught in their class of Taming Art and that principle worked both way. The stronger the bond, the greater the consequence of sustaining an injury.

RUNA had been injured badly and Thor's core had been burning up inside his chest, making it hard for the white haired boy to stabilize his breathing. He took a deep breath, eyes locked at the man and his kemono. He didn't have the time to worry about himself.

Unfortunately for those two determined boys, that man did not intend to waste his precious time on a bunch of persistent kids with heroic ideals. His sole purpose of luring the princess all the way to a deserted valley was to get her core and if not for that fire mage, he would have got it while they were in the sky.

He stomped his left foot on the ground and the earth began to shake violently under their feet. Rin and Thor bent their knees, stabilizing themselves.

They watched as a crack appeared in he dry earth, stretching all the way from the man's foot towards them. It got wider and the two boys jumped away from it, getting separated from each other as they stood on top of the two newly created cliffs.

Rin heard a hissing sound and turned his head to find the snake on his side of the split. His panther snarled, standing in between its master and that black-scaled serpent.

That cunning man had separated him and Thor and with Thor's present state, it would be a miracle if he survived the fight alone.

The snake sprang forward and Rin jumped away. The panther pounced at the snake, sinking its razor sharp teeth and claws in its tough skin.

The snake hissed loudly, violently shaking its body to get rid of that panther. Rin dashed towards it and jumped up, raising his burning blade over his head.

He brought the blade down, striking the serpent with all his might. He stepped down on the ground, jumping way from the snake whose scales showed no signs of any injury, Rin's flames doing no damage whatsoever to its tough body.

But the same wasn't true for the panther's fangs. It was biting off scale after scale from the snake which curled up on the ground, giving rise to large clouds of dust.

Rin coughed, the dust irritating his airways.

His eyebrows furrowed, he tried to think of a best possible way to take down the serpent. His kemono wouldn't be able to hold it down by simply pulling out its scales. They were already starting to regenerate from its bare skin.

On the other side of the groove, Thor was facing the man alone.

The man tapped his chin, whispering,"Say boy, you know who I am, don't you?"

Thor furrowed his eyebrows.

He did know who he was but that person was supposed to be a wind mage not a monster like him who could effortlessly split open earth and slice up a kemono.

"Sir Felix Knights",Thor said,"the president of the Imperial council 20 years ago."

"Correct."

He frowned, saying,"But I guess I shouldn't address you as sir. It would be contradictory to your actions and an insult to Alicia."

That lazy boy, who always wore a poker face, looked completely different at that moment and no, it wasn't because of his beaten up face or his broken ribcage. It was because of the hatred on his face. Half or no strength at all, he must make that man pay for hurting his friend.

His spear in his hand, he leapt towards the man. To his surprise, the man did not dodge him. The spear's blade hit him right in the chest but the tip met something hard and got deflected.

He stepped away from him, a confused expression on his face.

He jumped again, attacking the man only for the spear to get deflected once again.

The man watched as a bolt of lightning ran up the spear's body and charged its blade. A bright gold radiance engulfed the whole weapon and Thor coughed, ignoring his aching chest.

He pounced again only to fail once again. The spear seemed to have collided with something just an inch away from the man's body, something resembling an invisible wall.

The man raised his hand and grabbed the spear by its tip, its spark and lightning vanishing instantly.

"I'll be taking this", the man said and effortlessly pulled the spear out of Thor's hands.

He threw it above his head and Thor watched as it shattered into a million small pieces. They fell down on the shocked boy from the sky above like a rain of pure gold.

He put his hands together. THIRD FORM: THUNDERCLAP.

A loud thunder pierced the air but the man barely flinched, let alone covering his ears.

Thor jumped away from the man and raised his arm above his head, his palm facing forward.

FOURTH FORM: LIGHTNING STRIKE.

He brought his palm down and a golden magic circle opened up above the man's head. His gray eyes widened, reflecting the gold lightning that emerged from within the magic circle.

Thor watched, his breathing heavy and painful, as that lightning struck the man, giving rise to thick clouds of dust.

Was he finally able to deliver a blow?

His question was answered when the dust settled down, revealing his opponent who for once had his arms crossed in front of his face and his knees bent to steady him.

The man brought his arms down to his sides and to Thor's astonishment, glass shards broke off from his skin before falling on the ground beside his feet.

The man shook his arm and shed off more glass pieces, sunlight getting reflected by their shiny surfaces.

"You actually managed to break my spell, boy. This", he bent over to pick up a shard from the ground,"was what your spear was hitting before."

He rubbed the shard in between his thumb and index finger, saying ,"My ultimate armor. I came up with this idea about 20 years ago and you", he glared at the boy,"you broke it. Now you are really starting to annoy me."

He elevated his arm and all the glass shards raised up from the ground and hovered in front of him. He closed his fist and they charged forward, approaching Thor at an alarming speed.

Thor cursed as he jumped out of their course. He hissed in pain; a shard had still managed to graze his back, splitting open his skin through his coat.

With the swing of the man's hand, those shards changed their course. Thor got on his feet again, running as fast as he could from the persistent glass pieces pursuing him.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a huge boulder and took an abrupt turn, running towards it.

Taking off his dress coat, he jumped behind the large rock. He was out of breath and he raised his head, only to find the glass shards hovering right above him.

"Give up if you know what's better for yo-"

The man's words were interrupted by a loud blast and right before his eyes that boulder had shattered. Standing in its place was Thor with his singed coat in his hands, revealing the glass shards caught inside it.

It wasn't easy but he had managed to catch them in that fabric, his arms and face getting cut in the process. If only he had the time and power to use HEAL UP.

The man laughed, a real laugh with his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

Thor frowned. Had he really lost it?,he thought because the boy couldn't think of anything worth laughing about in that situation, not when he was fighting for his survival and barely winning the battle.

The man looked at Thor and for the first time that expressionless face of his held an expression; an expression of pure thrill and excitement, his lips curled up in a wide smile.

"Impressive! Very impressive!", he said,"You look like you will drop dead any moment now and you still managed to pull that stunt! Boy, join me."

"What?", Thor said, assured that the man had really lost his ability of reasonable thinking.

The man vanished and reappeared right in front of him the next instant. Thor instinctively jumped away and made a fist of his right hand.

A magic circle appeared right underneath the man, pulling him down. His body got glued to the magic circle, completely immobilizing him.

FIFTH FORM: BINDING LIGHT.

The man lifted his foot only for it to be pulled down again.

"Give in and hand yourself to the council",Thor said.

His cheek pressed to the ground, the man smirked,"Give up on my mission? Don't be so arrogant, you brat! I'm not leaving until I get that core. I will kill he-"

He was punched in his face, his head snapping towards the other side. Blood trickled down his temple.

"Stop uttering nonsense! Why must you kill her, you maniac!", Thor cried.

"Why, you ask? A fairy, a dwarf and an elf. Boy, do you know what happens if one has all three cores in a single body? Do you? You can turn back time! The time itself! Isn't that great? It is! It is!"

Thor shook his head at the insane man beside his feet.

"I don't need to listen to your crazy theories. I'll say this again. Give in-"

The man snapped his head up, his gray eyes a shade darker than their natural ones.

Thor felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Don't interfere, you pest!",he said with gritted teeth and a crack appeared in the magic circle underneath him, followed by another one.

"Tell me, do you know what my weapon is?",he whispered.

A knife.

A painful gasp escaped Thor's lips and he looked down to find a knife stuck in his abdomen.

"Don't tell me you weren't expecting that? We aren't playing house here, boy",the man said and the magic circle broke, vanishing from underneath the man.

He got up on his feet and looked over at the crystal orb holding Alicia.

"Now go to sleep", the man said to the boy before turning around.

Thor bent over and raised his blood stained hand to reach for the man's back. The tip of his middle finger was barely an inch away from the man's shirt when Thor cried in pain.

Another knife had gone right through his raised palm.

Jaws clenched, Thor pulled the knife out. Dark drops of fresh blood fell down on his boots and trickled down to the thirsty ground which instantly absorbed the fluid.

That man hadn't turned around nor had he stopped his walk towards the unconscious girl.

Thor looked over at Alicia and then at Rin. He cursed upon finding the boy having a hard time fighting the serpent.

His vision started to get dark at its periphery and he couldn't feel his legs anymore. He fell down on his knees, the knife in his abdomen going deeper into his organs. He vomited blood; warm and thick fluid flowing down the front of his golden dress shirt but pulling the knife out would only hasten the blood loss.

He raised his index finger but his vision turned black and he couldn't see it. He shook his head, repeatedly blinking his eyes. The finger appeared once again and weak golden sparks began to surround it.

He must give his all. If he was going down, he wouldn't do so alone.

The light got bigger and brighter. A ball of golden energy appeared on his fingertip.

"FIRST STANCE: LIGHTNING BOLT", his lips barely moved.

Large gray clouds appeared in the sky above, hiding the mighty sun.

There was a loud thunder before lightning fell down on the man. Strong shock waves were generated and Thor bent over, shielding himself from the powerful wind that followed them. He was still swept off the ground, being carried away by the hostile air and getting thrown yards away from his previous spot.

He rolled on his back.

He was tired. His body wouldn't move anymore. Forcing his right eye to open, he was hoping to find that man at least knocked out by his attack.

What was he even hoping for?

He felt like crying upon seeing that man standing unscathed in the same spot as before.

He made a fist of his trembling hand, weakly hitting the ground beside his torso as a tear escaped his eye.

He feebly punched the ground again and again but both his dread and anger only worsened, continuously reminding him of his helplessness.

Then his hand stopped, his body going limp on the hard ground as he was embraced by unconsciousness.

I'm sorry. That's what he thought as darkness engulfed him.

It was an apology to his friends for being so weak.