Caught off-guard by her words, I started thinking about the particles and how I just used them in front of her. I asked again, this time, my anger mixed with the particles creating a pressure on her consciousness "What happened after the impact? Tell me!"
"Hiii!" She screamed in fear "I'll tell you."
I took the gun away from her. It was a really old model, a revolver I realized. I tucked the gun between my pants and my belly button. I then made her sit on her own hands.
"After the first shock wave created by the impact, Salan caused casualties all around Superio. Causing Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Volcanic eruptions. The second wave was much worse. It carried blue particles, we started to call Mana, and it killed over 99% of the human population without affecting animals and plants." She explained.
"Over 99%!?" I said, breaking my poker face.
She spoke again, "Mana disrupts all technological devices such as radio and internet. Even vehicles don't work anymore."
'It all made sense now! I couldn't hear any vehicles, and sensors that looked for survivors wouldn't work. Haru told the truth, and he was so sure I would die, because nothing would be able to detect me.' I realized.
She paused while I thought, and spoke again when she noticed I was staring at her again "Only some people developed powers like you. We decided to name the powers after the cause of it. "Salan abilities". Only a small percentage can develop Salan abilities but everyone can train their Mana. Those with abilities are called Bearers."
I knew that the other 5 in her group were near and watching us. I was in danger, 6 against 1 newly advanced Bearer. I had the short end of the stick. No fighting experience with Mana, no feeling for Mana reinforcement in one's body and 2 missing fingers. 'I have 2 options, I run or I'll have to fight. Running away would hurt my pride and make me look weak, making me seem as an easy target. I don't even know what would happen to me once I went with them, willingly or not. Fighting them would have me have to kill them, something I've never done before.'
I took a deep breath, letting my Mana flow into my ears and eyes. "Tell me, Melina are you a Bearer? Do you have the ability to cloak one's Mana signature?" I asked her, waiting for a response that would decide if I ran or fought.
Her eyes widened as she screamed "Kill him! He's an Asian scout!"
"No!" I yelled, knowing I had to fight.
"You made me do this Melina!"
I took a deep breath and rammed my Shoto into Melina's throat. The sound of flesh ripping, gurgles and blood shooting out of the wound followed. Mana left her body, half of it spreading out into the environment, the other half directly going into her companions' Cores, enlarging them. I was in a daze. My vision turned blurry and my ears rang. 'I killed someone! There's blood on my hands now!' I thought, holding back the acid in my stomach.
By killing her, the effect of her ability vanished and I started to see and sense her companions. 'Two on 12'o clock and three on 6'o clock. Two men were in front of me, one had a baseball-bat and the other one had a crowbar in their hand. I turned to make sure the ones behind me weren't carrying any guns. This time two women and a man were standing before me. The women had pepper-spray and a dagger in their hands as for the man, he was carrying a gun.'
The guy with the gun pointed it's barrel at my chest. "You killed Melina! I'll make you pay!" He threatened.
'Please let this work' I thought. I threw my Shoto at his gun and controlled the Mana to make the Shoto gravitate towards his gun.
*Clang*
"It worked!" I yelled. My Shoto hit his gun making it fall to the ground. I sprinted at him, unsheathed my Katana and as I was about to swing it at him, to cut him down, one of the girls jumped in front of me and took the blow to her chest, giving the guy the time he needed to pick the gun back up.
I held my sword in front of me again as the girl fell to the ground, and cried in pain "Ahhh.. please don..". Mana came out of her body, half of the Mana equally divided and went straight into her companions' cores. The other half mixed with the Mana that was everywhere. She died by a deep cut that ran from her left hip to her left shoulder, her innards became visible.
'This isn't good. If you kill someone's companion, they will get a share of the dead person's Mana that enlarges their core and makes them stronger.
'I will get shot at now, I should block it with my Shoto. Hopefully I can imbue Mana into it, making it more durable.' I planned my next move.
"Motherfucker!" the guy screamed and proceeded to pull the trigger four times.
*Pat*Pat*Pat*Pat*
I held my Shoto sideways and imbued it with Mana, I then reinforced my chest and stomach and sent Mana into my eyes to see where the gun's barrel is pointing.
*Clang*Clang*Clang*
Three bullets hit the Shoto, one hit me in my chest, I heard a few ribs breaking but the adrenaline prevented me from feeling any pain.
The guy who shot at me lost his composure. 'It seems to have been his first time using lethal force against another human. He doesn't know if I'm wounded' I realized, running at him again.
"Attack him!" he ordered. The girl didn't follow his order giving me the chance to cut of the guy's hand.
"FUUAA!" He screamed loudly, holding his cut-off wrist.
I used my Salan ability. Mana gathered in the gun, my purpose was making the earth's gravitational pull stronger, making it 'heavier' and more difficult to hold it.
I approached the guy whose hand I had just cut off, held my Katana in a normal grip and held it up ready to swing it down to kill the guy.
I was interrupted, I forgot that there were 2 more guys behind me. A hit to my head knocked me down.
"You may have defeated me in duel but you have no experience in a fight were you are alone and have to fight more than 1 enemy. The Space Entity style is designed to pressure a single opponent and control multiple opponents' movements. Don't forget this lesson and you'll be guaranteed to win. In this time and age, sword-fighting is only a hobby. What if it wasn't like that? In a world without technology, you would have the upper hand." I remembered my mother's words before falling unconscious.
***
*Splash*
I woke up by being splashed with water to my face. I was tied to a chair, wearing nothing but my boxers.
"You woke up slant-eyes.." A big figure about 190 centimeters said.
He wore a plain mask on his face.
"Tell me boy, what orders were you given and what do the Swords you retrieved from under the rubble mean to the Asian Empire? The tall man asked, pushing me down.
'I'm truly in a bad situation..' I thought.