A door could be heard creaking open, and numerous gentle claps of footsteps could be heard intermittently. With the day being bright, the air being fresh, and being quite low on supplies, Suru Tassei ventured out from the depths of her home and proceeded into the rest of Buraun.
The cyan-haired woman wore a white cloak and a serene smile as she ambled past each villager on every busy pathway; it was the norm: bask in the sun without garnering unwanted attention and return to her humble abode—an abandoned house.
Eventually, the woman stepped up to a small concession stand vending fruit and vegetables.
"These apples are molding…" Ms. Tassei frowned, sliding her finger across the skin of the apple. "There. Healthy again!"
After swiping one hand above the concession, every fruit vanished into thin air; the vendor was entirely oblivious, facing the opposite direction. After a moment of time, the vendor turned back around, his eyes widening as blood rushed to his face in anger.
Looking beyond his stand, Ms. Tassai was nowhere to be found.
The vendor's eyes instantly shot toward the nearest villager. "Hey! What did ya do with my fruit!?"
The innocent villager screeched as a barrage of profanities were thrown his way.
Mirthfully, Ms. Tassie resumed her excursion throughout the village, remaining undetected. It was tranquil to be invisible to the public eye—not even the highest-ranked warriors could sense her; her freedom was endless.
Suddenly, the cyan-haired woman halted. Her gaze darted to the outskirts of the village, east of where she stood. She could sense something, and she was elated. It felt wondrous and addictive. It felt like…
"...Tanjo Nozomu." Ms. Tassei muttered, her eyes lighting up vibrantly.
The boy from before. The teenager with the deity-given powers: the Aura Amalgamation. Tanjo's Aura Sense was a beacon—a beacon that emitted the most fascinating light.
It was quite saddening to learn of his departure, but now the woman smiled at the surge of power that rushed across her like a wave. She embraced the feeling heavily.
"Perhaps a little visit wouldn't hurt…"
XXX
He was running out of ideas. Tanjo could not fight, nor could he outrun beams of light quite yet without having complete control over his speed. At most, he could match a beam's pace, but nothing more.
'Once again limited by my abilities…' Tanjo thought, his eyes locked onto Naderamu's. 'However, I'm not limited by my intelligence!'
The exact second Naderamu took the initiative and tossed her magic-filled shurikens—*WHOOSH!*—Tanjo flung one arm outward, erecting a red barrier to blockade the incoming attack. Once the shurikens pierced the red barrier, Tanjo injected a tinge of his own magic into the shurikens—*BOOM!*—forcing them to implode and promptly blinding the blonde-haired Naderamu from their immense light.
Removing her arms from her face, the aspiring warrior glared down at the ground Tanjo once stood, spotting nothing but ruptured dirt. 'Where did he go!?'
With her training in the back of her mind, Naderamu let her Aura Sense surge, which then enabled her to sense the masked boy. It took only five seconds for the girl to detect Tanjo.
'He's underground!?' Naderamu learned, clenching her fists. 'As long as I can still sense him, he can't escape—!'
The entire land mass around her began to tremble without warning, the grass becoming uneven and trees being ripped from the ground. Naderamu struggled to keep calm. Every tree within over forty miles was being ripped from the ground.
"No… the trees aren't being ripped out—the ground is!"
The ground itself was lifted into the air. Underneath the massive mass of land, a barrier of blue magic was keeping it together, preventing the dirt and trees from caving in.
However, that was not all. Tanjo Nozomu, with both hands pushed up against the barrier that held over forty miles of land, used his Aura Sense to fuel his strength and keep the large facet of the forest from toppling over.
Tanjo laughed in excitement, "I'm lifting the weight of an entire village on my back! Haha!"
Of course, Tanjo had managed to lift the sphere that Kronos gave him—albeit barely—which contained the total weight of a planet, so this feat was much easier once he used enough of his Aura Sense.
"Sorry Naderamu, but you and everyone else will have to be stuck here for a bit!" Tanjo exclaimed to nobody but himself.
In seconds, Tanjo forced a giant barrier to encompass the massive mass of land he had heaved into the air, trapping anyone inside, including the students of Class 1AB.
"If I hadn't lifted this part of the forest entirely, it would've taken way too long to make the barrier around it," Tanjo voiced, looking at the land above him. "And this will prevent Sukudo from spying on me with his hawks."
Now, here comes the slightly harder part. The masked boy looked out into the distance, looking for where the giant land mass ended. With narrowed eyes, Tanjo pushed the chunk of land up higher, preparing to softly toss it into the air.
"I just need enough space and time to dash my way out of here!"
Reflecting on the idea, Tanjo would need to run across forty miles of land in a second, maybe even less.
"Easy enough…" Tanjo mumbled, inhaling slowly. "Here we… go!"
With one quick push, Tanjo tossed the ginormous mass of land upward by a few feet, then proceeded to bend his legs and dash away. Almost immediately, the entire part of the forest began to fall, although it was much too slow for Tanjo to notice, running at a speed that made such a thing unnoticeable.
Fortunately, Tanjo's plan worked as he scurried from underneath the falling forest, stopping the moment he was free.
*KRRRRSHH!*
However, Tanjo had to endure the shockwave of its fall. The ground around the falling forest cracked instantly, leaving lengthy fissures stretching across the earth. The masked teenager merely stood through the strong winds, his eyes softening.
"Sorry, guys—but I need to get out of here. Hopefully Asami will come back around."
Slowly but surely, Tanjo shifted his body to the side, facing the direction Asami had previously sprinted in. Piling magic into his limbs, the boy prepared to leap into the air and start traversing across the land of Adonai, but a loud, thunderous sound erupted in the sky.
*CRACK*
Looking up at the blue sky, Tanjo's eyes flashed with monumental fear as a huge lightning bolt came crashing down before him, electrifying everything nearby. Tanjo himself could feel the lightning arcs dance on his body, prompting him to jiggle his entire body, using his hands to pat out the sparks.
"Please… don't tell me…"
Tanjo's mind was jumbled, anxiety coursing through his veins faster than the lightning that had momentarily raced across his body. There has only ever been one person in his life who had the power to harness lightning naturally. Tanjo had never seen the power taken to such a degree before, but he never underestimated the man wielding it. Not for a second.
Craning his head upward, his eyes gluing to the sight of a new opponent before.
"Old man…"
Standing off in the distance with his white robe swaying in the ferocious wind, Kaminari Nozomu could be seen—the white and blue lightning that shined brightly danced all over his body, his royal blue eyes glowing intensely.
For what seemed like an eternity, the white-haired man stared mutely at Tanjo, analyzing the boy for anything and everything. He could not muster a word; his breath was heavy, and the muscles in his jaw had locked.
The two stood in silence, their labored intakes of breath being the only sound permeating the pregnant silence.
Nozomu finally spoke, "What is this for, Tanjo?"
The boy in question flinched. It was now obvious that Old Man Nozomu knew who he was, which could either help him or make the situation much worse. There is only one way to find out.
"I wish I could tell you," Tanjo said. "I really do."
Though he wishes to explain everything to Old Man Nozomu, how could he? Expose the existence of Kronos? Beyond that, he had been told that he was chosen to change the future, the one foreseen by the God of Time—would the Old Man believe him?
There's a chance that Old Man Nozomu does not even believe in the gods themselves, which could potentially trigger a much more aggressive response from the white-haired man.
Nozomu calmed his breath. "What is keeping you, Tanjo? What drove you to become a stray?"
Tanjo grit his teeth. "I just said that I—!"
"Or 'who' is keeping you?" Nozomu reiterated, his voice stern.
The lightning on Nozomu's body flickered violently, the cackling sounds growing louder. It was clear that Old Man Nozomu was becoming increasingly angry, if that was what Tanjo could tell. Maybe it was not anger, but perhaps another controlling emotion.
The masked boy was not going to concede, so he skipped to big question:
"And if I refuse to answer?"
Nozomu had hoped for Tanjo to answer differently.
With a stolid expression, Nozomu stared at the masked boy. Several thoughts flooded the man's mind, a plethora of them giving him a flash to his past.
'This all… seems too much like 'him.' I can't allow him to drift too far away.'
Tanjo stood nervously, his gaze darting across his old man's form, anticipating any subtle movements. He vehemently rejected the notion of clashing with Old Man Nozomu; he did not know if he could keep up with his Aura Amalgamation—a power that even High-Class warriors could not keep up with.
All the masked boy could think of were the times he spent under Old Man Nozomu's roof and how he treated him like a son. He was told that his real parents had died when he was born, but that was all he knew. Besides the secrecy, Old Man Nozomu never gave up on him, and Tanjo never wished to give up on him either.
Though, times forge new roads, it seems.
Interrupting the heavy silence, Nozomu answered Tanjo's question:
"I'm going to show you how weak you still are."
XXX
Fights everywhere! Tanjo just cannot catch a break anymore! And now, he has to face Kaminari Nozomu, the man who contains the Lightning Dragon, Kanden! What will happen during this fight? What will happen with Class 1AB in that giant bubble of magic Tanjo trapped them in? Stay tuned to find out!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_