The young boy threw one of the black boxes at Dapo. Dapo immediately shifted backwards as he was wary of the box. At the second bounce, the box exploded, and the force of the explosion pushed the Dapo more backward.
"If I had not shifted earlier, I could have been done in. Anyways," Dapo thought and immediately brought out a staff three inches longer than him. He, acrobatically, rotated the staff around his body and pointed it at the boy.
The boy, unconcerned about Dapo's show of skill, threw another box at Dapo. Dapo used his staff to hit the box sending it upwards and immediately closing the gap between him and the boy. The boy threw another box, this time, he rolled the ball forcing Dapo to jump. It was at this moment Dapo noticed something.
"Oh no. Fuck," Dapo exclaimed as he saw a box over his head. However, that was not what worried him. He was being cornered at this very moment. The box in the air exploded as he almost reached the box. Almost immediately, the box that rolled on the ground exploded.
The air explosion had pushed Dapo toward the floor while the ground explosion pushed him back upwards causing the forces to collide with Dapo at the centre. Dapo fell face flat to the floor as blood dripped from the sides of his mouth and the scratch on the right side of his forehead.
"Was that fun, Old man," the young boy smirked and jumped around. But to his, Dapo rose to his knees as he held his staff with his right arm.
"It seems that I had underestimated you but you need more than that to finish me," Dapo retorted as he stood and wiped the blood off his mouth. He looked at the blood he wiped off and smirked. Immediately, he changed his expression and slammed his staff on the roof floor, which levelled the whole mine. The mine was about two-thirds of the whole area. The shockwaves were felt all over the Toriba area.
The boy was caught off-guard but immediately found his footing before he landed on the ground. Dapo, however, calmly landed on the ground.
"We are just starting," Dapo said as he took his battle stance.
"What kind of power is this? This is beautiful," the young boy said as his face glistened.
"I must find a way to deal with those boxes. He seems to be able to control the timing of the explosion, and his tactics are not bad plus he has those boxes rotating around him. Okay," Dapo thought and sprinted toward the young boy.
The young boy then threw the boxes, ten of them into the air scattering them. Three rolled on the floor, three midairs, and four at the top. Dapo held the bottom of his staff, did a round twist, and swung his staff to his right which released a forceful gust of wind which send the boxes in the air to the left. Then, he planted the tip of his staff on the ground and used it as a pole. He swung his body up and as his head was over the top of the staff, he grabbed it and swung it upwards forcefully.
"Bilateral Partition," Dapo said as he landed on his feet. Bilateral partition is an attack that cuts the opponents into bilaterally equal parts.
"Explode!" the boy shouted as he clenched his fist. The boxes that had been blown to the left exploded and released a wide force. The young boy intended to use the force the explosion had generated to misdirect Dapo's attack. However, to his surprise and utter mistake, the attack sliced the heavy force and him into equal parts.
"That was stressful," he said and went over to the boy. "Gross. He could have been more. Anyways, I wonder how the other kids are faring. Might as well search for them now," he said, walking to his left.
At the other end, the trio split and continued their search for the culprit behind the attack. The part that Chioma took led her to a grey metal door. The metal door has a rectangular space at its upper two-thirds covered by a wooden slab. Chioma went toward the metal door, and as she was about to open the door, a sudden wind with a powerful force slammed her against the metal door which caused her and the door to collapse to the ground. She managed to use her lightning coat to escape the falling pieces of rocks that crumbled down.
"Whose power was that? The enemy?" Chioma thought to herself and rubbed her forehead. She stood up, shook her dress, and looked around. That was when she noticed the presence of an underground stairway a few steps away. She followed the path of the stairway using her lightning as a source of light in the dark underground.
The stairway led to a large room that contained a very big rectangular box. It was the only item in the enormously large room.
"Why would a room this large contain only one box?" Chioma queried and walked towards the box. As she was about to touch the box which, the box suddenly sprang open which surprised her and made her shift backwards. Then, a woman came out of the box.
The woman was dressed in a blue gown, black mask, black socks, and black sandals. On her arms, she wore long black gloves that extended to her elbow. She came out of the box and found Chioma in the room.
"Who are you and why are you coming out of there?" Chioma queried as she immediately took her battle stance.
"An archer? Looking at her age and her power level, it's quite impressive but not experienced yet. Well, now is not the time," the woman thought. "I was working here when I suddenly heard a series of loud explosions. I had to hide in here. You could come to check it yourself," the woman answered with her two hands in the air.
"Okay," Chioma said and released her battle stance. She went towards the box and saw a dark space but she smelled a smoky scent coming from the space. She turned back to ask the woman but the woman had disappeared.
"What? How did she leave without me sensing her? Could she be that?" Chioma thought as she took close look at the room before she ran out of the room. "Where could she have gone to?" she thought as she ran.
On Ini's path, there were no bodies on the floor and it was as if the path had not been taken before. The walls on the path were close to each other and his shoulders could nearly touch the walls. The place was quiet to the extent that he could clearly hear his steps until a loud explosion occurred causing the walls to crumble.
He immediately snapped his finger, activated his special technique, and was able to escape the crushing impact of the crumbling walls. He wondered whose power could have caused such a powerful effect. He looked around him and noticed that everywhere had been flattened. He decided to go back to the entrance of the mine, maybe, he would be able to find the cause of the crumbling.
Tobi's path was filled with numerous bodies of dead guards. He could not fathom who could have done this but there was one thing he had noticed. Even though some of the bodies had been beheaded, the others were slit in the neck.
"The person's using a dagger?" Tobi queried in thought. Suddenly, a powerful force that flattened the entirety of the mine shook the whole place and crumbled the walls around him. He had to activate Dragon's lair to protect himself from the crumbling walls.
After the crumbling had subsided, he deactivated the technique and moved forward as he pushed the rocks that had been stacked together. In a moment, he saw a figure speed passed him.
"What's that speed?!" Tobi was amazed and immediately sped after the figure. He chased after the figure who did not seem to stop at any time. The figure took a glance at him and increased its speed.
"Ehhh. You can still go that fast? Then, let me show you the result of my hell," Tobi said and took in a quick breath. He stopped in his tracks, bent down and held the hilt of his sword. He did not accumulate or condense any energy to his limbs instead he contracted his lower limb muscles with much force that caused a crater beneath his teeth and dashed forwards.
He overtook the figure, to the figure's surprise, and immediately turned to face the figure as he quickly unsheathed his sword.
"This is where it ends," Tobi said as he pointed his sword at the figure. Tobi noticed that the figure held two daggers which affirmed his suspicions. The figure was dressed in a black shirt, trousers, and brown sandals. The figure's face was hidden under a black mask.
"I must commend your speed. I was quite surprised," the figure remarked.
"I don't care about your commendations. Why don't reveal who you are?" Tobi asked sternly.
"Are you sure you won't care?" the figure said, moving toward Tobi.
"Why does that seem so familiar?" Tobi thought. "Who are you?" Tobi asked and frowned.
The figure stopped and motioned for Tobi to calm down.
"I will tell you, rather, I will show you," the figure said and proceeded to unmask herself slowly.
"I…" she said and moved closer. "Am…" she continued to move with the mask covering only her upper face now. "Hannah," she said and finally removed the mask.
Tobi stood in shock as he heard the name and confirmed the face. It was truly Hannah, the girl he had been spending time with. "How? How come?" Tobi shouted.
Hannah, unbothered, bent down, touched the ground with her right palm and confirmed her feelings.
"There's no doubt about it. This is the place," she thought. Then, she stood up and moved towards Tobi who was still in shock.
"Don't worry. I won't attack you. I like you, Tobi," she said and gave a kiss on his lips. She smiled at him, shifted backwards, and immediately changed her countenance as she brought out a big black box.
"You should run, Tobi. For Toriba," she said and slammed the box on the ground which created a very powerful explosion that further desecrated the already flattened mine. Her body was blown to pieces. Tobi could only watch as he instinctively activated Dragon's Lair with tears in his eyes before he screamed at the top of his voice.