Chapter Twenty One

The robed man sprinted in their direction. And with a whoosh, he turned himself into another streak of darkness.

'If he is unable to see while in that state, then the perfect way to kill him is by…'

"Attack him when he reappears!" Kyle swung his arms to Karan. Karan nodded in response and carefully observed the dark object.

Both of them observed as the flying dark object got close to them. They approached it as soon as it reached their position.

"Come on now…!" Karan's fist was glowing brilliantly. Near him, Kyle was standing as if he was going to kick a ball, enhancing his whole body.

The nerve-wracking moment lasted only for a moment, before both of them stood, stupefied.

They stared as the dark streak of light went past them, entering the woods. The robed man appeared shortly after and continued running without looking back.

"…."

The light on Karan's fist dulled.

----

Inside the forest, the robed man kept on switching between his shadow form and human form. His shadow form was blurry and shaky as if he couldn't maintain it for much longer. And he was panting furiously when he was running in his human form.

"Damn it…!" he spoke through gritted teeth.

'What was up with those two?! Even though they were powerless at the start, they grew another set of fangs as the battle proceeded!'

His shoulders trembled as his facial muscles distorted. While running, he kept on clenching his hands, as if they were Kyle and Karan's heads.

'I hate this Authority! If only it didn't have this big of a flaw!'

The robed man turned into a streak of black light and went through the woods. The black object occasionally hit the nearby trees, distorting it and slowing its speed. Frustration grew in him as he felt his shadow form bumping against the trees.

When the streak of darkness bumped into something, it distorted and deaccelerated, slowing his pace.

This action of cowardice continued until the city shrunk into a bright dot of flames in the distance.

The robed man slowly panted as he slowed down, walking heavily.

'I wasted half of my energy in vain…' He inspected his body as he dropped to the ground. Every single muscle on his body screamed in pain, and he flipped his body to face the starry sky.

"So comfortable…"

The stars were slightly covered by a tint of orange. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing.

'I'll stay here for a little longer.' The robed man recounted the earlier battle in his mind.

Earlier, he immediately injured both of them with ease. It was normal for that baby-faced man to be able to endure his blow, but the teen with black eyes surprised him greatly.

'As a "blank slate", he managed to bear my fist with only his energy. The younger me would definitely be unable to handle that amount of force.'

He pursed his mouth as he remembered the black-eyed teen. Not only was his control of energy unusual, but his eyes spooked him slightly.

"Those abyss-like eyes…how terrifying."

That teen managed to discover the secret of his shadow form and was able to respond to his attacks. Even with emotions inside them, he felt as if his whole being was being penetrated by those eyes.

'If left alive, how much of a threat will he be?' Entertaining himself with that thought, he shook his head and continued reminiscing.

'That childlike person wasn't that bad either. His usage of Storing was creative, and his team work with that teen was formidable.'

His jaws throbbed.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the beautiful moon adorned with countless stars.

"I guess that's my karma for being arrogant."

Sighing, he stood up and let the moonlight cast its light upon his face. His face was as rough as sand, and dark yellow was the color of his skin. The single horn on the left of his forehead pierced through his yellow hair.

"Hmm?" He squinted his eyes and stared at the sky.

"…Was it my imagination?" He lowered his head and went further into the forest, heading towards the meeting point with his comrades.

'It was as if the sky was a glass, slowly breaking apart,' he shook off his nonsensical thought.

----

"How much energy have you expended?" Kyle was sitting with his back against the wall

Beside him, Karan lied down on the cold ground, bathing in the heat from the city. Hearing Kyle's question, he inspected himself briefly.

"Only a twentieth of my total energy. You know how—wait, do you even remember this?"

Kyle said nothing in response, earning a sigh from his companion. The baby-faced man ruffled his hair and spoke, "The three of us have an abnormally large reserve of energy. As a blank state, each of us can be compared with twenty people on our team…In terms of pure energy, of course."

"By the three of us, Loine included?" The youth said while looking at the forest, wary of any dark object.

'It seems that my energy reserve is the same here,' he thought. His original body also contained a monstrous amount of energy.

"Yeah. Some people even refer to us as the 'Endless Siblings'. You know, endless as in our energy." Karan spoke while twirling his hair.

"Endless Siblings…" Kyle furrowed his eyebrows.

Opening his mouth, he was about to speak, before a loud explosion came behind them.

[BOOOM!!!]

"…!" Both of them jumped in surprise and leaped away from the city walls.

Lifting their heads, a mushroom cloud rose to the sky, blocking the starry sky. The heatwave slightly burnt their skin, forcing them to enhance their body with energy.

"What the fuck!?" Beside him, Karan was detonating his energy around them. Thanks to this, the brunt they bore was slightly mitigated.

Through the gaps on his finger, Kyle's mouth was wide open. His clothes were burnt in some areas, but he didn't care about exposing his skin.

'Impossible! Even the most forbidden detonation artifact wouldn't match that thing!'

It was a relief that it came from the other side of the city. The city was extremely wide, but the damage that the explosion dealt effortlessly reached them.

"Run!" The arrogant youth discarded his composure and ran to the forest desperately. Karan also escaped as soon as Kyle opened his mouth, equally as desperate.

Behind them, the city walls disintegrated, launching pieces of bricks everywhere. Behind the walls were the destroyed ruins of buildings.

Holding hands, Karan wretchedly abused his Authority. He exploded them without caring about the size and the impact it would deliver. He had only one objective: to bring both of them to safety!

Tightly clenching Karan's hand, Kyle deflected the pieces of buildings that reached both of them. He was engulfed in shock and fear, but this didn't hinder his performance at all. He accurately punched the small projectiles that went their way.

"Keough!" His whole body ached due to Karan's Authority, but he knew that he had to bear with it. If he didn't, the aftereffects from the explosion would injure them.

The heatwave from the huge explosion spread everywhere, engulfing both of them at an extremely hot temperature.

Their enhanced body barely managed to mitigate the effect, and Karan's Authority helped them to bear with it.

Behind them, trees started to combust instantaneously before being launched by the shockwave.

Kyle saw all of this happen and yelled in panic. Karan also glanced back and felt fear throughout his body.

"Strengthen-your-body-the-fullest-even-if-it-hurts-you!" The baby-faced man yelled all of it within a second. Even though Kyle had difficulty understanding it, his body had already enhanced itself to the bare maximum.

When Karan opened his mouth, he had detonated his energy on the ground, launching them slightly to the air.

He turned back and squeezed Kyle into himself.

"What are you—!" Kyle protested with his body covered in energy.

Karan paid no heed to his complaint and compressed a monstrous amount of energy behind them, generating a huge orb of blinding light instantly.

"Fly!!!" He immediately detonated the massive orb of energy.

"Uwaaaa—!!!"

With a blinding pillar of light behind them, they were launched into the air. The duo was flying at an extremely high speed, escaping the impact from the explosion. Kyle felt some of his bones breaking and screamed out in agony. Hugging him, Karan also yelled in pain.

But he soon gritted his teeth. Behind them, the heatwave was looming over the horizon.

"One…more…!!!"

Eyes ablaze, he once again created another huge orb of light. And once more, the orb exploded, creating a pillar of light behind them.

"Kagh!!!"

The arrogant youth felt as if his whole body was being crushed under massive pressure, his vision became blurry and he almost blacked out. In front of him, Karan's embrace was getting weaker.

"Karan!" His mind refreshed and he held onto him tightly. The person in his hands had their eyes slightly open, as if he was trying his best not to faint.

Tears started to pool in Kyle's eyes.

'Damn it! He must've emptied his whole reserve to do that!'

Holding back his tears, Kyle glanced back to the explosion. The shockwave from the explosion was catching up with them.

"No…!" he spoke through gritted teeth.

'Was all of that still insufficient?!'

The youth bit his lips until it bled, and could do nothing except watch as the impact from the explosion approached them.

"Nooo!!!"

Suddenly, a womanly figure appeared from mid-air. Her face was contorted and her eyes were overflowing with tears.

She disappeared once again and reappeared above the two young men. Holding both of them, she hastily used her Authority.

After three seconds, the impact arrived. But the Endless Siblings were nowhere to be seen.