23 To Extract Or Not To Extract

In all his years of gathering children for his grand plan, Ayoro Basam had found a few potential yellows and extracting from them had proven to be a little too difficult due to their unconscious resistance. Succeeding with their extraction however, proved to be tremendously rewarding since the elixir he extracted from one yellow was as potent as those from ten orange users. This meant that it brought him a step closer to becoming a green.

He had struck gold with this child, however, breaking her for a smooth extraction seemed to be more than what he had bargained for. Ayoro saw that the girl was running towards her with incredible speed even though she was not close to being as fast as he was. Still, it did not escape him that she was not even using her essence at all. No matter how much he hated to admit it, this child was truly strong. Even with all her injuries she was still trying to fight back. Her muscular arms were proof that she had been training her body for a long time. This was why Ayoro had actually mistaken her for a boy in the beginning. But no matter how amazing she was or how powerful her essence was, she was still a child and it was all new to her. Besides, she had no soul armos yet and there was no way she could win against him.

A harsh slap came crashing on Savyrran's face which pushed her right back to the ground. Her body was still aching from all the pain she had incurred from the blood flame tiger, but all the rage she had been feeling had propelled her towards that man just so she could punch him in the face. But the man had anticipated her move and struck back. The strength from this man was like no one she had faced in the town. Was this the strength of the yellow? People say she was strong, even she knew it. So why did she feel so powerless right now?

If the yellow users were this strong, why were Mayor Danjo and Master Bufan easily bested then? What if the children got lost forever? No, she could not give up.

Ayoro's cackling laughter echoed throughout the room. His furious eyes enjoyed the pitiful state of the brat grovelling on the floor. This child was lucky his soul armos was doing something important. If not, he would have summoned Manamo to torture the girl by burning certain parts of her body. That would surely break her stupidly strong will.

"Stop resisting, stupid child."

But the stupid child would not stop resisting. In fact, after struggling for a while, she was back on her feet again. Savyrran's face was covered in blood, and she could feel her energy slowly leaving her. She could not give up. She would not give up. Once again, she charged towards the older man who was also waiting to smack her in the face again. But this time, Savyrran narrowly dodged the man's strike as she leaped on top of him, completely catching him by surprise.

With the last bit of strength within her, she headbutted the man with such force that Ayoro's focus was momentarily lost thereby losing his essence in the process. Savyrran had once learned from Fani that maintaining one's essence around them required complete concentration. Once that concentration was lost, the essence would simply dissipate back into their soul. Since the release of essence amplified a person's original physical and mental strength, not using it didn't make them as strong as they would have been while using it.

Hence, Savyrran believed that the only way she could probably win against this man was by forcing him to stop using his essence, which was exactly what she did. For a while, her small but powerful fists rained a torrent of blows on Ayoro's face with all her might.

Ayoro's eyes dimmed in confusion as he had not expected things to turn out this way. Where had the child got the strength to fight back? He tried everything he could to get this pest off his face, but the little girl's legs firmly wrapped around his neck with the strength of a hundred men. At least, that was what it felt to him. He learned quickly that without his essence he could not possibly fight against this little child. He himself had been so obsessed with making his essence stronger, yet every method he had been using to obtain such a goal had never included physical or mental training techniques. To him, those were too arduous a task when he could use shortcuts like stealing the essence of children to fuel his own. Physical and mental training could take several decades or even centuries just before one could advance to another lever of power. He did not have that time . Hence, he had neglected to make his physical body stronger just so he could pursue other avenues.

Still, how hard could it be to fight against a child? Sensing that the child was too strong for him, given the endless barrage of assault on his now bleeding face, he tried once more to release his essence. This was not just about the child's monstrous strength. He could feel his soul energy sapping away rapidly. There was something wrong with his soul armos and he could feel it. What was going on? Whatever was going on, he could not risk having his soul damaged. He needed to summon Manamo back into his soul before anything happened. That way, it would be easier to use his essence without over exerting himself.

After a while, Ayoro regained his concentration and his yellow essence flared up around him once more. In that same instant, he grabbed onto Savyrran's shoulders and then hurled her across the room.

To say Ayoro was enraged would be a grave understatement. The man was trembling with fury, and his yellow eyes were like those of a mad dog. He knew that extracting the essence from this child would be impossible. The extraction had to be done within three day of a new manifestation. After the third day, it was impossible to extract. Since this child did not want to be part of something bigger, he decided to kill her here and now. And since his oppressive essence was having no effect on her, he would use another method.

He lightly flicked the ring on his right middle finger. Instantly, a large silver knife appeared in his right palm. "I will kill you." That was all he said, but it was enough to send chills running through anyone who heard them.

Savyrran on the other hand was too angry to care. She had wanted to beat the man unconscious but had instead been thrown away like a doll. Ayoro was too strong. Without his essence, he was not as strong as Savyrran's father. But once he released his yellow essence, it felt like an impenetrable shield. Today had taught Savyrran that she was not strong at all. She laid still on the ground, incapable of moving. Her body had reached its limit and no matter how hard she willed her mind to move, her limbs would simply not listen.

Looking at the furious man approaching her with that long glistening knife, Savyrran felt that perhaps, this was truly the end. It was a short life, but she had no regrets. At least, she would die knowing that she had fought back with every last ounce of her strength. A weak smile began to widen on her face as she braced herself for whatever was to come. She felt her own consciousness gradually leaving her. Ovandarrak's face was the last thing she could think about now. She hoped that perhaps, her brother was having a better luck than her.

But before Ayoro could reach a foot away from Savyrran, a thin ray of golden light sped towards him. The golden light cut through his yellow essence before colliding with his chest, throwing him a few more steps back.

At first, it was like nothing had happened, but then suddenly, Ayoro began screaming in pain as he felt a searing sensation in his chest. Blood suddenly gushed out of his chest like a dam. He soon fell to his knee, directing his gaze to where this sudden attack had emerged from. For the first time that night, the arrogant look on his face was totally wiped away and replaced with pure fear. His hands began trembling and sweat poured down his face. Coming towards Ayoro was the towering body of that man with his long white hair.

With his golden eyes, golden light surrounding him and the large sword surrounded by golden flames, the man gave off the aura of a divine being. The fact that this man was a yellow user like Ayoro but far more stronger than him created an endless pit in his stomach. He had created such a meticulous plan from the beginning just so that this fearful man would not get involved. And now, here he was.

"Bufan." Ayoro muttered to himself. How did he find this place? What was going on?