Athan did not even look at his attacking pose. His fist was clenched carelessly and his teeth gritted hard towards each other. He was screaming on top of his voice like a beat up child despite the fact that he was sixteen then.
But he did not care about any of those thoughts. This was the moment he was going to vent all his rage for the past sixteen years he had been abandoned. His vision was read and his hair fluttered behind him with the wind which had appeared out of nowhere.
All he could see was a black fuzzy humanoid figure made of black smoke standing before him. He felt that at the moment, he could disperse the figure into nothingness with just a punch. If he could see his own eyes, they were crimson colored with blood vessels as they threatened to pop out from their sockets.
As he ran, he could feel the world around him slowing down. He could also feel that he was getting closer to the man despite the world slowing down. He finally reached the smoke figure before him and threw a punch he believed he had concentrated all his strength in.
The punch seemed to carry the weight of the world with it and for unknown reason, he could feel that it was getting heavier with every passing second. The fist reached to where he could see the head at and punched with all his might.
His scream grew louder to the point his voice grew hoarse and almost bordering the point of his shattering his vocal chords. But just like to expect from smoke, his fist went through the illusory head to his shock. His already popping out eyes almost coming out. Suddenly, everything stopped.
One could imagine the repercussions of missing the target with all that accumulated momentum. He suddenly lost his foothold and he fell forward face first. He had suddenly gotten silent and he did not even realize when he lost consciousness or even feel the ground he had fallen on.
****
In a dark room in the middle of nowhere, one could see a guy lying on the floor at the far end corner of the room. What was unmistakable was his red hair. One could see the calm look on his face as he breathed in and out.
One who saw him at the moment could wonder where he got the nerves to sleep so calmly despite the situation they were all facing. Did he not fear death or was it that his life not even valuable to him?
But how could they know that it was both. On close inspection, one could see the sword one and a half meter long grasped tightly on his chest with both hands. The sword was laid on his chest such that its handle was just a few inches from his chin and the tip of the scabbard was between his legs.
If not for the fact that he was breathing, one could have thought it was a dead person who died hugging his sword. His breathing suddenly slowed as his eyes stirred open. His eyes were red and they darted from left to right.
Suddenly, he registered something. He was in the middle of a battle. That was not all. When he saw the roof of the room and suddenly looked around the room to see its poor condition with broken rumbles, his eyes turned red. his rage building up once again.
He did not even realize the fact that his hands were clasped on a sword. He roared as he sat up quick but he did not even get the chance to regret as he lost consciousness unaware of what had happened. All he saw was a blur and a pain he never registered.
Had he taken his time to analyze his situation, he would not have made a silly mistake like sitting that fast with the sword handle on his chin. He had knocked his chin so hard that he had almost snapped his neck backwards which caused him to lose consciousness.
It did not take long later before he woke up again. The same event took place and again he lost his consciousness. The process took place twice before he understood what he was going through.
When he woke up the fourth time, he did not sit up directly. He was not sure what was happening yet. He took a whole minute to realize that there was a sword on his chest. This caused his face to turn green with shame.
But the next moment, his face was all read with fury. He now realized what had happened. He had lost! But that was not the most infuriating part here. The fact that he had lost and even after that, that vile fox had decided to play a trick on him.
He was sure that his father was somewhere laughing his ass out. This made him tons of times angry. He removed the sword from his chest and sat up slowly to make sure that there were no more traps.
*****
Athan rubbed his nose as he remembered these events. He had not yet healed and he was not going to do so until he got back at his father. All this time, he had been existing without a purpose but with the fact that he now knew that his father existed, changed everything.
He was not dumb enough to think that a person like his father was weak. The fact that they had the unique traits, he was sure that there was probably a hidden family and there was also a reason his father had not not come to get him at birth.
He would be a fool to think that it was due to the hidden families. He sighed as he discarded these matters. If he thought too much about it, he could lose his motivation. What he knew was that he was too weak to know the truth.
There was a reason his father had told him to get stronger to go and get his revenge. He was sure that the revenge was not on his father but some else. But one thing he was sure was that with his current strength, he was nothing but cannon fodder. This maybe an exaggeration. He could not even be used as cannon fodder.
Not to mention the fact that he did not know the ranking of his current strength. This left him depressed somehow. Still, he had to carry on. At the moment, he was sitting on top of a building at its edge.
His one leg was folded on the edge such that the foot stepped on the edge as he lay his chin on his knee and the other leg was swinging on the side of the wall. He stared at the setting sun with nothing but a plain look.
It was a beautiful sight actually as the setting sun turned the distant skies crimson. It seemed that life was getting back to normal for there were birds flying in the direction of the setting sun.
Not to mention the few dragon like creatures too flying in the same direction. For the past few hours, he had been looking for demons worthy of his time but all he met could not even put him in the brink of death even in years.
Maybe only he could let his enemy beat him to death. he yawned loudly and stretched. He felt a comfortable crack on his back as a comfortable smile colored his lips. He breathed out and suddenly his ears pecked like a prey sensing a predator.
In the distance, he could hear the clanking of swords which caused him to raise his brows. There usually were not many people who used to come to these areas. It could be said that he was the only one and those foolish girls.
Athan, even from a distance, he could tell that it was the girls. He did not want to get involved with anyone and he ignored them. Why would he care about them? He was no saint to go saving around anyone he met.
He continued to stare at the setting sun ignoring the fight that was going on like he could not hear them. But every now and then after a few exchanges, the could look into the direction with his brows raised.
There was suddenly an eerie calm which he assumed that the girls had won. But it did not last for a second before it was followed by a painful scream. He sighed as he tried to maintain his position.
Something was telling his to rush there and see what was going on. He finally took in a deep breath and stood up. He placed his right hand on the sword as started walking. But he was walking in the opposite direction from where the screams were coming from.
He jumped from the top of the building and landed on the ground his legs apart. He tried to ignore the fact that his mind was screaming at him to turn back. He stopped as he listened to his contradictory thoughts.
Since he met those girls, he had not been himself. He kept finding himself going against his way. The fact that he was thinking of them was enough proof. Had it been before, it was never in him to think twice.
Then, he heard another scream...