It was a normal morning. Kevin woke up at seven in the morning, got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. His parents were already sitting at the table eating and listening to the news.
"Oh, morning son!" His dad said with a smile when he saw Kevin
"Did you sleep well honey?" His mom asked.
"Yeah yeah, thanks for asking though." Kevin replied quickly.
He didn't like when his parents would baby him, but at least they were letting him out on his own now.
Kevin pulled out his chair and sat down at the table. As he ate breakfast he listened to the news.
"Yesterday night, a fire appeared in the housing district between number 4 and 5 road. A mysterious barrier that cut through numerous houses in its perimeter was also found last night, leaving 5 people dead. Eyewitness reports say a group of teenagers and a man were involved, but disappeared before they could be apprehended by police. This concerning incident last night is currently being looked into."
"It's getting more and more dangerous out there by the day. First the kidnappings and now this…" His dad said, shaking his head.
"Thank god you were safe last night." Kevin's mom said, looking at him. "You make sure to be extra careful these days alright?"
"Alright, I will."
Glancing at the time, Kevin grabbed his backpack and left his house. He was heading to Rubi's house, then they would walk to school together.
The atmosphere was different in school today. Kevin was getting weird looks in the hallways. Almost everybody had watched or heard of his fight with Mei yesterday and how he beat her. It had become the new topic for gossip throughout the school.
"Ignore them!" Rubi whispered from beside him.
He was walking down the hall to their homeroom in the morning. The two still hadn't spoken about the incident yesterday, but it was obviously still on their minds.
"Kevin! Rubi!"
"Huh?" Kevin turned around. He saw a handsome blond boy running towards them.
"Ciel!
"Pretty crazy fight you had yesterday." Ciel remarked, walking beside Kevin.
"Yeah, I'll tell you more about it during lunch. We should hurry to our homeroom now." Kevin said, prompting a nod from both his friends.
However, as they reached their class, they were stopped by a girl. She had sky blue hair and of average height, had a kind and beautiful face and a perfect figure.
"A-Aria?!" Ciel said, flushed.
The girl was Aria, one of the most popular girls in their grade. Even Kevin's body felt a bit warm, though he could control his emotions better than Ciel.
"What do you want?" Rubi said, a hint of hostility in her voice.
"Kevin, Renault wants to see you after school in his office." Aria said with a smile.
"Alright, I'll be sure to drop by after school." Kevin replied, prompting a nod from the girl.
She then left, walking towards her homeroom.
After a fairly uneventful day, he was walking down the hallways, making his way up to the highest floor where Cornelius's office was located. As he passed the closed doors of classrooms to his right, he felt a looming presence over him. There wasn't supposed to be anyone nearby, the clubs were all situated on the lowest floor of the school.
As he rounded the corner, he saw a man dressed in black. On his back was a sheathed katana, and on his body, multiple different weapons were stored.
"Ah, I've finally found you." He said. "Nice to meet you Kevin, my name's Atlas."
At that moment, everything in Kevin's body told him one thing: run.
He broke out into a sprint, running the opposite way, his steps echoing in the hallway. However, right as he rounded the corner, the man appeared in front of him again, like he had teleported there. In his hand was a throwing knife, and he reared his arm back before launching it at the boy. The knife spun in the air, whizzing straight for Kevin's neck.
"This guy's trying to kill me! If I don't block this then I'm done for! I don't have enough time to make a shield so…" Kevin thought
Kevin raised his hand and shot out a barrage of spheres of condensed darkness. He still had to work on his aim, but one of the projectiles hit the knife, sending it off-course. The rest of the projectiles flew towards Atlas, who sidestepped and easily dodged them. Kevin turned to run the other way, but after rounding the corner, Atlas was in front of him again.
"What the? It doesn't matter where I run, he always somehow appears right in front of me?!" Kevin thought, confused. "Maybe I'm in some sort of loop? Every time I go around the corner I end up back where I was?"
Suddenly, he thought of something. "I'm so stupid! I'll look at the classroom numbers! I was so distracted I didn't pay attention to my surroundings."
He looked at the nearest classroom, which was numbered D312. As he sprinted down the hall and rounded the corner again, Atlas appeared, as expected. However, glancing at the classroom where he would've been next to, it was instead numbered D309.
"So it isn't a looping power… " Kevin thought about the situation carefully. "As I round the corner, there's always a small delay before he teleports to the other side…"
He turned the corner and took a step. Sure enough, Atlas teleported in front of him again. As Kevin turned back around the corner and took a step, the man appeared again.
"I've figured it out. You have some sort of teleporting power that's activated the moment I step outside a certain distance." Kevin said to the man. "Based on my estimate, it activates around 7 meters."
"Very impressive, but it doesn't matter if you know how my power, Pursuit, works. You can't run away, just give up already." Atlas replied.
"He's right, my best bet is to try to beat him. If I try to run to Renault for help I'd be forced to confront Atlas anyway." He thought.
"Who said I'm running?"
Kevin said, raising both arms and unleashing another barrage of condensed darkness. As they flew through the air, they spread in a way that dodging them would be near impossible. However, the opposing man wasn't fazed, holding his ground. As the attack was about to make an impact, he took a step back. Atlas teleported back to where he was standing moments ago, effectively dodging the attack. The barrage shattered the row of glass lining the wall behind him.
"Pursuit works on himself too? Once he steps out of range then he teleports back as well… "
Atlas pulled out another stack of throwing knives, and with expert precision sent them flying towards the boy. Without a second thought, he unsheathed a knife on his hip and sprinted towards Kevin.
"I need something to block the knives!" Kevin's mind raced.
Kevin materialized a shield of darkness onto his left arm.
"This is my chance to go on the offensive!"
Kevin charged forward, his shield in front of him ready to block the quickly incoming knives. At the same time, Atlas was also sprinting down the hall towards him. The knives finally struck the boy's shield, making dull thuds as they wedged into it. However, unbeknownst to him, cracks were starting to appear on his shield where the knives had hit.
The two fighters closed the space between them in a flash, and they finally met in the middle. Atlas swung his blade in a diagonal arc, the knife slicing through the air. Sparks flew as the knife scraped on Kevin's shield rendering the attack harmless.
"His left side is open, NOW!"
Conjuring his own knife into his right hand and holding it tightly in a reverse grip, he swung the knife towards his attacker's skull. At the same time, Atlas had driven his knife into one of the cracks on Kevin's shield, and with a forward slash, it was completely shattered, the bits and pieces of darkness fading away.
Using the momentum from his attack, he slashed at Kevin's chest but barely missed. Instead, he cut deep into the front of the boy's right shoulder, leaving a bloody laceration. Blinded by the pain, Kevin's grip on his knife loosened. The knife fell out of his hand, dissipating into nothingness.
Atlas thrust his knife forward, aimed straight for Kevin's heart. However, Kevin narrowly dodged the attack with a sidestep. Keeping the pressure, Atlas slashed and stabbed at Kevin who was being pushed back. His body moved and dodged the attacks, but his shoulder was throbbing in pain.
"I have to remember how it felt like when I fought Mei." Kevin thought. "Back then, I wasn't really thinking during the battle, I let my body and instincts do the work. I'm not too sure how or why it happened, but I'm sure it'll work again."
As Atlas slashed at him again, he leaped backwards shooting projectiles of darkness. Using his knife, the man skillfully deflected the barrage of projectiles as they flew towards him.
"Dark Arts: Darkwheel!" Kevin yelled.
The spiked wheel of darkness the height of his body spun in the air as it whizzed towards Atlas. Kevin thrust his hands behind him and used a blast from his palms to propel himself forwards. On his hands were two gauntlets, ready to attack and defend against anything Atlas would try to throw at him.
The wheel of darkness spun vertically down the narrow hallway at a blinding speed, with Kevin following suit. Atlas threw his knife onto the ground, waiting for the attack to come. As it was less than a meter away, he unsheathed the katana on his back.