Kazuya woke up to the sound of laughter echoing through the cavernous halls of the bandits' base. The once-intimidating environment was slowly becoming familiar to him.
The rough stone walls were adorned with various trophies and trinkets the bandits had collected over the years, giving the place a rugged charm. He stretched and got out of bed, curious about what the day would bring.
As he stepped into the main hall, Mousa, the bulky bandit with the beard, noticed him and waved him over. "Hey, Kazuya! Come join us. We're about to have breakfast."
Kazuya smiled and walked over to the large wooden table where the bandits were gathered. The smell of freshly cooked food filled the air. Jun, the attractive teenage girl with mustard-brown hair, was serving plates of scrambled eggs and toast.
"Good morning, Kazuya," she said with a warm smile. "Hope you're hungry."
Kazuya was caught off guard by the greeting, Jun never talked with him that politely before.
"Ummm... Good morning," Kazuya shyly replied, taking a seat. "I am, thanks."
As they ate, the conversation was lively. Toma the short bandit with pearl blue hair, was animatedly recounting their raid in the Chrono Reapers base.
"And then," Toma said, gesturing wildly, "I swooped in from behind and took out the that guard before he even knew what hit him!"
"Yeah, yeah, we know you're fast," Mousa said, rolling his eyes. "But did you see how I handled those three guys at once?"
Toma looked at Mousa with disbelief. "Those three guys weren't even fighters, and you didn't do anything particular, you just slammed yourself on them!"
Mousa "Yeah and I did with no effort, and that's the point, you kindergarten brat!"
Toma "I'm 13! And I ain't in kindergarten you old man!"
Shota, the mute bandit just chuckled at their bickering, enjoying the camaraderie. While Jun was ignoring them completely, she was already used to their early morning quarrel, which pretty occurrs on day to day basis.
But this made Kazuya start to feel even more closer and closer to the group, he hadn't felt this way in a long time....
Kazuya glanced at Jun as she enjoyed her meal. After a moment, their eyes met, and she looked at him with a gentle smile.
This made Kazuya nervous, prompting him to shyly avert his gaze.
After breakfast, Toma, Shota and Mousa stood up and motioned for Kazuya to follow him.
"We've got some things to show you today," Toma said. "You'll get a sense of what we do around here."
Kazuya nodded and followed Toma through the base. Their stop was the training area which was outdoor. It was a large, open space with various equipment scattered around – punching bags, weights, and even a makeshift ring in the center.
"This is where you will train kid!" Mousa said with enthusiasm. "This way we will get to know a glimpse of your ability!"
Kazuya was a little confused. "How?"
Mousa replied " Younger individuals with abilities subconsciously activate their ability on different situations"
"Since you're young and oblivious to your own ability. Then it means you haven't still manifested your ability to it's full capacity yet, which also means you have no control over it whatsoever.
"That can lead to moments where you can subconsciously activate your ability without knowing.... which is why today we're going to go through a series of tests to make you activate your ability. "
Kazuya looked at Mousa with curiosity. "Do you also have an ability??? Because it seems you know a lot about them."
Mousa just chuckled at the question. " No I don't have an ability, I just know a lot about them because my mother was from a once powerful tribe called The Yakamuzi possesses powerful abilities."
"I'm more like my father, he was a hunter from the west who in terms of physicality was a beast. He didn't possess any powers or anything but he was a fierce warrior in battle, kinda like a viking of some sort."
"Oh, and i forgot to mention that Shota is my cousin from my mother's side. Unlike me, he is fully from The Yakamuzi, which makes him possess an ability."
Kazuya was surprised, he looked at Shota who just waved his hand with a smile.
"I didn't know you and Shota were related! Wait so Shota has powers just like me and Toma!?"
Mousa answered him with a nod. "Yup!"
"What about Jun!?" Kazuya asked.
"She's just like me, individuals with no powers, but our weapons, physical traits and combat skills makes us powerful as well."
Kazuya glanced at Mousa's giant axe on his back, it look Ancient and extraordinary, the design and texture had it's own feeling to it. Even though he never seen him use it in battle because the only time he did see Mousa in action was against those gangsters, but he only fought them unarmed, he didn't use the axe.
Kazuya was learning a lot more about these people, but every new thing he learns from them, leads to him wanting to ask more questions, because it seemed that there was a lot he didn't know about the world, abilities and these guys in general...
But before he could ask, Toma came up to him with a pair of boxing gloves "Want to give it a try?"
Kazuya hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. "Sure.... I guess?"