Garyon and Eheron weren't family, the age difference was about fifteen years, exactly how long they had been traveling together. There was not a shadow of doubt in Garyon's mind, so he left without thinking; Eheron will subdue the boy and go looking for him and Eheron understood that.
There was a vain anger in Seng's eyes, the kind he had seen before. People rarely get angry in the same way in different situations. When his brother takes food from the other, when you see the murderer of your parents, they provoke two emotions of rage and fury that share the title and nothing else. In Seng's eyes was that fury that someone who has been relegated to sleeping on the floor would have because the only bed is occupied.
Childish. No basis, no concern ... a tantrum.
"Why are you with that boy?" Eheron opened his mouth, the words come out and bounce off an invisible wall inches from his head, a few painful times.
"They always try to talk." Seng smiled.
Eheron closed his eyes and writhed in sudden pain, the volume of his voice far exceeding what he had planned to wear. Seng took the opportunity to yank the chain hard and insert his shadow around his wrist to free himself. He loved to guess what the other would do, it isn't easy to do, but if you give it enough time, your next sentence can break your eardrums thanks to that power.
Who could guess that? No one. It was perfect, a target still due to the tension of the chain, waiting ...
"Idiot" Seng laughed emitting a sound wave that paled in strength and wasted ego. "Now I just have to run to the trees, if he is able to chase me I will finish him off"
Seng had the best hand, knew the terrain, and would take advantage of that knowledge by using his shadows. Even if Eheron had some crazy resonance of mobility capable of rivaling his own, he would still suffer defeat the moment he lost sight of him.
Mobility, strength, intelligence, reflexes, experience, terrain, and the ability to cancel the noise he produces; Seng is the ultimate assassin and surely that guy with the chains can't bear to have an ice dagger around his neck.
For Seng, Eheron ran out of luck, it is impossible to hit another of those attacks with the chain in a terrain full of obstacles. Eheron watched as Seng ran through the trees, still not far away.
His fate was sealed.
Eheron twisted the chain in his left hand and reached back. Seng didn't even pay attention to it, it was obvious that the trajectory of the attack would be interrupted by the trees, it was impossible for it to hit, a straight attack, a wide attack, those logs would prevent the chain from reaching Seng.
"What a fool" Seng thought, he heard the chain and waited for the subsequent sound of it hitting the wood, however, the unimaginable happened instead.
The chain cut through the trees as if they weren't there, and right at the end of its path they would find Seng. He stopped, immediately brought his shadow to work as well as the logs had, and unable to assimilate reality in time, he received a painful blow to the stomach.
And that was not all.
Eheron knew he was going to land the first blow so he turned from behind to attack with the chain in his right hand. Seng lost the air he had inside from the impact and puzzled he could do nothing to prevent the second and atrocious blow that directly hit him on the cheek.
Who could guess that? No one. It was perfect, a target that he believed to be safe, moving in a simple trajectory ...
In short, Eheron loved to guess the tactics of his rival and break that illusion of ingenuity that they carry.
———————————————————————————————————
Echsos and Layd's pace wasn't slow at all, any ordinary person would be left behind in a race against them, too bad that Natsume and — more importantly —Garyon don't belong in that category.
Natsume paced and stopped, overwhelmed by the slowness of her stepbrothers and Garyon's constant brisk stride. Should she use her power?
Natsume be careful when using your resonance!
Seng's words were embedded in her subconscious, it was impossible for Seng to be certain of it, but the possibility that that subject would cancel her ability and as a result she would remain in that state terrified her... and Layd was conscious about it.
"Come on, you're the oldest," Layd thought and patted his cheeks. "You have to face this"
Layd came to a halt, pushed Echsos toward Natsume, and made an initial attack, sliding his feet across the ground and launching a kick that knocked rocks off the ground at Garyon. The pieces hit Garyon's arms directly because he covered himself, leaving a cloud of dust in place of damage.
"Stay away! Why are you chasing us?!" Layd asked. Natsume and Echsos backed away somewhat.
"That's what I wanted to talk about!" Garyon smiled sincerely, dismissing the scrapes on his arms. "I don't understand why you run away from someone like that, what ails you youngsters?"
"Perfect, I got him to talk." From one to ten, Layd's interest in the motive was a four, because those rumors of that psychopath were stronger than curiosity. "Stop beating around the bush and tell us at once!"
"I want that boy to join my cause" he declared with his gaze fixed on Echsos along with an iconic face of compassion and sweetness.
"Join u…?" Echsos muttered.
"That's right! He's the person I've been looking for all these years! The perfect companion for my crusade! The co-star of my story!"
"And can you tell what kind of story that is?" Natsume asked.
Garyon's smile deepened, the dark circles in his eyes widened and crinkled. For the three of them it was the first time they had seen that kind of expression, one that no one would ever fake, that is not practiced and less premeditated. A sinister symphony straight from his soul.
"Justice." He sputtered. "This continent... this world is full of unjust people, with even less just powers. A world of ego, where no one really thinks about using their abilities for good and those who do so are deceived." he sputtered.
>> "Have not you realized how dangerous it is that people capable of breaking reality in such a way is a danger to humanity?" Garyon stretched the skin of his face in fear. "What good is someone who can attract Tsunamis? For the world to be fair we must abandon the resonances and dedicate ourselves from the heart to working only with our hands!"
Every word from Garyon made them disturbed, the old man's polite dialect disappeared along with his manners, that man who commanded a mysterious respect had been replaced by a clown of the worst kind.
"That's why I need you boy! It's always been hard for me to know what resonances people have, that's why I can't just kill everyone just because!" Garyon continued. "With your resonance I will be able to know what resonance others have and thus preventively end the dangers of the world!"
"A-and why would I want to join you?" Echsos replied.
"That doesn't matter, I'll use my resonance on you if you refuse," Garyon clarified.
"You are contradicting yourself idiot!" Natsume exclaimed quickly because of fear. "How can you give that stupid speech that Resonances are bad and then say you'll use yours?!"
"You don't understand, there are some forgivable resonances, like the boy's… and the last thing I'll do to end the dangers of this race…" Garyon straightened up and stretched his arms to the sky in an epiphanic pause. "Will be suicide."
"Thank you Natsume" Layd thought. "That ridiculous talk was perfect"
Layd suddenly buried himself up to his knees in the ground and instantly extended his arm, which caused a rock the size of his chest to be shot straight at Garyon who was still into his speech.
Layd's resonance is manipulating the earth around it depending on how buried it is. However, the process of burying and bonding is not immediate and has limits. In summary, there are four stages and moving from one to the other takes more and more time. The first is active all the time and allows you to manipulate up to a meter of terrain, the second takes about a minute still and multiplies the range and power by five.
Garyon recovered from the shock that had knocked him down, wiped the blood gushing from his nose and glared at Layd that didn't flinch.
"I think you don't understand old man." Layd clenched his knuckles with a frown. "My little brother already rejected your pathetic proposal."