Author’s note- Hey guys! Back with another early chapter! Enjoy~!

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ASH IN THE WIND

The clouds were the first thing that went into my field of vision. I was here again?

Placing a hand on the water, I got up into a standing position. And from there, I could once again see my reflection. He seemed much further away from me than before, and this time I wasn’t filled with an irrational hatred towards him. Had the space expanded?

With an intention from my mind, the hot feeling arose from within. Then with another, a flame tornado emerged around me, obscuring my features. Unfortunately, I noted, I couldn’t exactly see well through the flame, so I couldn’t make it into something that covered my whole body. But it would do well to guard everything below my head.

Making a flame tornado behind me, I sprinted towards one end of the space. Then I sprinted to the other end without the tornado, timing it at 6 seconds. Next, I sprinted back to the other end with the flame ring, timing it at 4 and a half seconds. The flame ring made me a bit faster, but the force was almost purely vertical, not helping me too much in the horizontal.

Next I tried using the flame tornado to sprint, putting it directly under my feet. I timed it at 5 seconds. The reason it was slower was because I was going a lot higher when sprinting, throwing me off balance. Sometimes, lighter isn’t always better.

So as a final test, I aimed the tornado perpendicular to my back to sprint. And I made it to the other side in only 3 seconds! That meant that with the tornado at my back, my speed was effectively doubled!

Deciding to test out how many flames I could combine before it went out of control, I started to combine the flame points one by one. The fire turned blue at flame point X5, and the fire started to become unstable at X6. It ruptured like the flame point at the end of the tornado soon after, so X5 was my limit when trying to make my fire hotter.

I wanted to test another application of my ability, but suddenly, the whole realm started to shake intensely. What was happening!?

It shattered like glass, and I woke up to find my phone vibrating. It seemed to be a notification from the organization.

‘You have been targeted once again, this time by bounty hunters. They are ability users well versed in sniping and melee combat. Please find a defensible location at once.’

Me- “F*ck!!!”

Last time, the organization warned me well before the attack. However, they didn’t come until well after the battle had ended. I could only depend on my own abilities to survive this. Grabbing a few water bottles, I started to sprint out of the house and to the Racetrac. If I could get there and teleport before they got to me, then that would be for the best. Plus, they normally had members stationed outside; I could draw support from them.

I wanted to use my flame tornado to accelerate my body, but the only route I knew was the one in public. Hopefully they wouldn’t try and attack me while I was still in the public…

Dashing quickly, I made it to the area of my school without incident. But when I had to cross, I heard sounds of gunfire in the distance. Coming from the racetrac…

I realized that they were most likely engaged in combat. And I had 2 options. One was to continue on my path to the Racetrac. I would probably have assistance, and I would be able to go down the corridor and teleport. However, if I got shot in the crossfire, it was probably going to be game over.

Alternatively, I could abandon going to the racetrac and hide in some other location. But that would be overlooking the fact that they most likely had some way to track me, seeing as they had troops deployed in the way of my destination. Hiding would only get me killed faster.

I decided to take an approach through the forest, and circle around the back to the race trac. That way, I could use the trees as cover from being sniped, and I could probably act as an element of surprise to the battle at the racetrac.

Crossing the intersection, I went off road and slid downhill towards the forest. And in a moment, I was inside. Safe!

Activating my flame ring, I started to go even faster. Unfortunately using the flame tornado would probably cause a forest fire. I would only use it if absolutely necessary.

As I was running, I saw a plume of dirt rise up from the ground. Then a second later, the sound of a gunshot rang out. I was already being sniped?

Putting my back to a large tree, I tried to think of something. Dash out in a zigzag pattern? You’ve watched too many gun fight movies. That won’t do shit against a professional.

Send a flame point down the gun barrel? I don’t even know where he is!

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Options came up within my mind and were discarded as soon as they came. Why was it so complicated!? I’ll just burn it all!

Sending flame points flying out in all directions, a slight crackling sound could be heard from my surroundings. But it wasn’t spreading like I expected it to. And didn’t it rain recently…

F*ck! What was I supposed to do!?

On a flash of inspiration, I sent out a flame tornado, from my big tree to the next. And as soon as the sound of gunfire rang out, I dashed over to the other tree.

That worked? I let out a long sigh of relief, realizing my gamble had paid off. Looking for my next cover, I saw a big tree and an area of brush that led to the racetrac. If I could get to the area of brush, he’d probably have a hard time hitting me.

But I doubted the same trick would work twice for sure. If I wanted to fool him again, I would have to be within the tornado. That was a problem. I couldn’t see while running around in the flame.

Would I be able to use the fallen leaves to create white smoke? If I had a hot enough fire, I doubt that would be an issue.

Making two flame point X5, I moved them across some leaves and twigs strewn about the path. They started to shrivel up, and then they burned away before they could release enough smoke to give me a hope of running past.

Thinking for a bit, I realized I had to abandon that idea. It just wouldn’t work.

Realizing that there was no other way than the flame tornado, I engulfed myself in it and just ran.

No shots rang out, but after 2 seconds I dispersed the tornado and realized the tree was right ahead of me!

Sliding, I noticed another plume of dirt rise up behind me. Then a gunshot rang out, signaling that I almost had been shot!

Moving quickly, I laid down using the brush as cover and started to crawl towards the racetrac. And as I crawled, I noticed something was wrong. I haven’t been hearing sounds of a gunfight from the racetrac, yet I was being shot at by a sniper. Was everyone already taken out!?

A cold feeling shook my body, and I started trembling. I was on my own now.

When I made it to the top of the brushy area, the brush ahead seemed to thin out. If I continued crawling, I would probably get sniped. So I observed my destination, seeing if anything there can help me.

The back of the racetrac had people lying on the ground, semi automatic guns pointed towards the forest. And the end of a black barrel stuck out from on top of the roof. The sniper!

Like I expected, the dead bodies of the ‘gangsters’ I had seen earlier were strewn across the area. They each had a gaping, bloody hole on their foreheads. Sniped…

Grasping the pendant at my neck, I silently whispered,

Me- “Chloe. Give me good luck…”

I sent flame points down each of their barrels, with a flame point X5 down the sniper’s. And with a thought, they ruptured.

“Bang!”

Their guns all misfired, and the sniper’s gun totally blew up, flying backwards. And the fight started!

The soldiers simultaneously staggered back, but some of them recovered more quickly than others. Drawing military knives, they charged towards the forest. And one of them happened to come in my direction. I couldn’t stay hidden!

Pushing myself up, I drew into a fighting stance. And in the next moment, he was already slashing at me.

I didn’t have time to prepare a flame point X10, so I sidestepped and touched his arm, my golden aura surrounding my hand.

He fell to the ground and didn’t get back up again. But now they knew where I was…

The other four turned around and ran in my direction, closing in on me from all sides.

I picked one off with a flame point X10 and another with an ice bullet spray, but there were still two left!

They both attacked me simultaneously, one slashing at my throat and the other stabbing towards my ribs. I couldn’t dodge both of them!

Choosing to dodge the knife aimed at my throat, I slapped his arm as it came by with my golden aura. He dropped the knife, but the other one landed his knife in my ribs!

???- “Hah ha ha ha!!!”

Letting out an insane laughter, he pulled out the knife and aimed for my heart!

Unfortunately for him, I blocked the knife by putting my hand in the way. With red eyes, I sucked the life out of him as well!

But the damage was done. My blood started gushing out of my side like a waterfall, and I pressed my uninjured hand to the wound, trying to stop the bloodflow.

Thankfully, the hot feeling saved my life yet again. Concentrating around the wound, it stopped the bleeding immediately on my palm and my ribs. And the wound started to once again knit itself together at a visible rate.

But suddenly, the fake door to the secret room opened, and out of it came two people with wide grins on their faces. One was a woman with eyes like an abyss, black with a red glint at the center. Scars extended across her face with her eyes as the center, and she held two military knives at her sides.

The other was a girl. Her grin looked vicious, and her eyes were bloodshot, staring at me with hatred. She was caressing a dead, rabbit?

Chills ran through my body as I remembered the rabbit in my backyard. Didn’t I kill it? Were they aiming for me even then?

The girl with the rabbit held out her hand to the woman, and the woman placed a military knife in it.

Rabbit girl- “You killed him. You killed Mr. Tom! Look at him!”

Her eyes glinted with an insane look, as she walked forward, pointing to the rabbit. Holding the knife, she threw the rabbit to the side, and it rapidly deteriorated once it left her hands, turning into a skeleton soon after. She murmured darkly,

Rabbit girl- “I’ll have fun with you…”

Moving to take out another water bottle, I noticed my movements were sluggish. What was going on?

Rabbit girl- “Heh, you want to run? Mr. Tom couldn’t when he wanted to, and now you’re getting a taste of your own medicine. Struggle! The neurotoxin will make things fun for you in your last moments…”

Poison? So what!? I’ll make sure we’ll both go down!

Me- “Hah ha ha ha! You think I’ll just roll over and die? Think again!”

The hot feeling started to rampage like a dragon, going bezerk! I took out the water bottle with a grim smile, aiming it at the rabbit girl. The woman realized something was wrong, and threw the knife at my head. But it was too late!

I fired the ice bullet, and summoned a flame tornado to surround my whole body. Something sliced past my cheek, and landed in the ground behind me. Knowing that was the knife, I dispersed the tornado to see the black eyed woman staring at the rabbit girl. She was on the ground, bleeding from numerous holes in her body. Her pure white clothes were soon dyed red.

Black eyed woman- “NO!!!”

I gave a bloody smile, and made a provocative gesture with my hand.

Me- “What a pity…”

Black eyed woman- “You… I’LL KILL YOU!”

The blackness in her eyes receded to the red light, and she dashed up to me, hands outstretched.

When she came into about a 2 foot range, I extended my golden aura from my hand. And when it touched her, the light in her eyes almost ran out. But staggering forward with indomitable will, she extended her hand weakly towards my throat.

And just as it was almost within her grasp, I managed to overcome the neurotoxin and kicked at her stomach. She fell to the floor, and the light in her eyes faded away.

Me- “So close, yet so far away…”

I sucked out my golden aura from her body, and set fire to both of them. In the end, they blew away, as ash in the wind.

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Author’s note 2- And yet another one bites the dust.