With the arrival of the remainder of Class 1AB, save for their beloved instructor, Utsukushi and Naderamu were overjoyed, as Kou's stress levels only increased beyond a healthy threshold. Akogare, Meisei, and Sukudo's tactics seemed to have hit the fox-like rogue harder than anything else throughout the battle, reducing his original ten purple tails to six.
The blonde rogue peered back at his tails, waving them around.
'Those bitches!'
*SHING!*
"What's your choice, feline: imprisonment or death?" Kou inquired harshly, breathing heavily as she extended the tip of her blade forward.
The students took into battle postures once more, their complete attention focused on the renegade between them. It had been a long time since any of the Class 1AB pupils had fought for their lives—not since the invasion of Buraun. However, the fox-like rogue appeared to pose a much greater threat than the homogenous onslaught of warriors who invaded their home village.
Kou saw a subtle decline in Kono's Aura Sense after losing four of his aura-printed tails; it was less intense than before, making him easier to detect and somewhat more vulnerable.
"What shit options…" Kono inhaled, cracking his knuckles. "I'll make a deal: give me that pink-haired girly and I won't rip your throats out."
Everybody briefly glanced toward Utsukushi, bewilderment gleaming in their eyes. What would a rogue want with Shizen Utsukushi?
"That's a kid, bastard!" Kou hollered, angling her knees.
Kono's purple tails hovered beside his frame, directed toward the woman before him. "Wow. Way to make me feel old!"
*WOOSH!*
Kono flashed his purple claws threateningly as he stretched forward, narrowly missing Kou's neck as she quickly leaped aside and reacted with a purple Genso-Kyu—*BOOM!*—forcing the rogue to sidestep, employing his fast movements aided by his purple Aura Sense.
*SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!*
Blue-colored arrows were suddenly launched toward Kono, his eyes quickly darting to view behind him and three of his tails catching the arrows, snapping them effortlessly.
"Good going, Meisei. He's looking at us!" Akogare panicked, readying his sword with two hands.
Sukudo stretched his arms forward, unleashing a flock of hawks at the rogue. "Speak effectively, not idiotically!"
In mere seconds, Kono was slashing through the flying aura prints skillfully, his gaze flitting back and forth as the hawks rapidly dwindled in numbers. His purple tails were like cleavers, mutilating the birds made of pure Aura Sense.
As the hawks soared through the air, Naderamu took advantage of the situation and sprinted forward—*BRRRM!*—materializing a blue Genso-Kyu between her palms, the blue light shining brightly.
*BOOM!*
The fox-like rogue craned his head sideways, observing the incoming blue light heading his way.
"Screw off!"
In a hurried state, Kono flexed his right hand and discharged a large beam of purple light at Naderamu. The rogue's purple beam tore through the student's attack and grew dangerously close to colliding with her. Fortunately, Kou intercepted and erected a barrier that took the brunt of Kono's magic.
Kono ground his teeth together in anger, feeling his body pulse as his Aura Sense's potency threatened to decrease once again.
'This fight has gone nowhere! It's just back and forth! Back and forth! Back and fucking forth!' The fox-like rogue yelled within his mind, his eyes flitting between all of his adversaries.
He needed to think. If Kono stayed around for a prolonged period, he'd ultimately lose all of his tails, which meant he'd lose his unique reserves of Aura Sense that supply him with far more strength and speed. The prospect of being slain by a group of students would be egregious.
Then, he had an idea.
'Oh… this is going to hurt…'
Without warning, the four tails that Kono had previously lost sprouted back out of his body, resulting in an incredible amount of sweltering pain spawning within him.
"Out of the fucking way!" Kono roared as he lifted his right hand, creating a purple Genso-Kyu that grew bigger by the second.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Kou's eyes dilated as she beheld Kono's Genso-Kyu releasing numerous rays of light in almost every direction. The woman ran toward the students and dragged them into another location, keeping them from being burned to ash by a stray beam of light.
Unbeknownst to Kou, Kono accelerated through the pandemonium and tackled Utsukushi, proceeding to flee through the forest and separating the two of them from the rest.
Kou was forced to watch as Kono ran off with the student. She wished that she could give chase, but in the corner of her eyes, she noticed a ray of light making its way toward Sukudo.
'I didn't grab him yet!?' The woman frantically thought, redirecting her body and saving the student with red face paint from being annihilated by the ray of light.
After successfully placing the students elsewhere, they all looked around nervously.
"What happened!?" Akogare screamed, looking down at his body. "How did I end up here!?"
Naderamu smacked the back of his head. "Kou moved us here, idiot! We can't outrun literal light yet so she saved us!"
Meisei hummed, narrowing his eyes. "Then where's Utsukushi?"
All of the students perked their heads up and attempted to find the pink-haired girl, but their efforts proved to be fruitless. Fear was brewing within their hearts as they failed to spot their cat-like classmate, unaware of her whereabouts.
"Kou?" Naderamu called out to the woman. "Where's Utsukushi?"
The woman in question turned her back to the students, adopting a serious expression. "The rogue captured her and ran off. I need to find her. Stay here, and don't try to find your friend. He will kill you without me there to save you!"
XXX
"LET ME GO!"
Utsukushi thrashed around as she was picked up by the rogue. Painfully, her arms were tied together by Kono's purple tails, which were fading away slowly. The fox-like rogue had an exasperated expression etched onto his face as he hauled the student quickly, increasing the distance between him and the other opponents he fought seconds ago.
"You want to be let go? Fine!"
Kono slowed down greatly and tossed the pink-haired girl into the earth, relinquishing his grip on her. The student coughed as her back slammed into the dirt, leaving an imprint on the ground.
"Why do you want… to kill me!?" Utsukushi demanded, stumbling to her feet. Her once bright pink hair was matted and caked in dirt, reminding her of the time she participated in the game between Class 1AB and Class 1AR.
The rogue clenched his body in agony, grunting as his tails slowly dissipated into nothingness.
"...Your tails… grow more." Kono huffed, glaring at the student.
Utsukushi assumed a fighting stance, her three blue tails swaying around. "What? You want me to fight back as you kill me!?"
Kono's left eye twitched. "I know you have more than three tails! Show me them!"
The student was greatly perplexed, blinking repeatedly.
"You don't know anything about me! Why do you want to see me use more of my tails!?"
The fox-like rogue lost his purple claws, his hands shaking. "If you won't do it, I'll do it for you!"
*SMACK!*
Utsukushi could only feel a sharp pang of pain spread across her face as Kono rammed his knuckles into her, sending her body flying backward and colliding with a tree.
"Grow them!" Kono ordered, clenching his fists.
The Class 1AB girl clenched the tree as she stood up again, glowering at the rogue in front of her.
"RAH!"
Utsukushi forced herself forward and threw her three tails at the rogue, only to completely miss as Kono swatted her attack away. The fox-like rogue was down to his last four tails; however, his pain was refusing to subside.
*SMACK!*
Kono kicked Utsukushi in her ribs, causing her to fly through the tree from earlier.
"Don't waste my damn time! Grow more tails!"
The pink-haired girl's breath became labored, her body quaking as fear consumed her mind. "I…"
*SMACK!*
The rogue kicked her again while she was down.
"Don't you dare tell me you can't! A war is going on and you refuse to grow some more fucking tails!? Three isn't enough!"
Utsukushi sank her fingernails into the earth and clenched her side to alleviate the pain. She was puzzled as to why the rogue wanted to see her grow more than the three blue tails she currently possessed. Utsukushi had never grown beyond three, and she had no idea if she could.
Kono glanced at his tails, noticing that he only had two remaining. 'Shit!'
The fox-like rogue returned his sights to the girl on the ground, his jaw clenched. "How would your mother feel if she saw you give up this easily!?"
The student raised her head slightly, her eyes meeting Kono's.
"Stop… acting like you know who I am!"
"Fourteen years ago. Your family lost somebody." Kono said with the utmost brevity, "Never been found since."
Utsukushi's eyes widened, her mouth shaking. "How do you know that!? Nobody other than my parents know of that!"
As Kono's final tail dared to fade away, growing more translucent by the second, the rogue raised his right palm to his hair. As his fingers were coated with purple Aura Sense, he softly combed through his blonde hair, the color of which shifted upon touch as it was burnt and instantaneously healed back, exposing his natural hair color.
Pink.
"Because, Shizen…"
Her mouth was agape as a cold sensation traversed down her body.
"I'm your brother."
XXX
I thought of this idea immediately after I introduced Kono! It was comedic to me: both Utsukushi and Kono have the same aura prints! They both utilize tails and claws, and Kono may or may not possess a pair of fox-like ears that he refuses to wear, similar to Utsukushi's cat-like ones! I have thought of hundreds of ways for this truth to be revealed, but given the circumstances of the novel and how I'm currently living, I wanted to make things simple and to the point. Who knows, maybe in another universe things played out differently! (Wink, wink). I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned as I struggle to pump out more chapters until I eventually finish this story!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_