“Don't look at me like that. I don't have a bottomless pit of Kigen like you.”
Severin cast a pitying look at me. I don't need his pity. What I want/need is more Kigen. But unfortunately, It cannot be done. I know, because I tried finding out ways to increase my pool of Kigen, only to be slapped with an eternal fact.
What you get is just that, what you get.
“I didn't say anything.”
"You didn't need to.” I tried raising myself on my own when suddenly Severin offered a hand. His expression was still cold and unfeeling like the winter itself, but I didn't care. If his indifferent self is going to help us out of this situation, then I'll even cheer him on. I grabbed his hand, and it was surprisingly even warm.
Inspecting my current status, it was a little bad. I used three consecutive styles in succession, which caused me to deplete my already low amount of Kigen. The correct way to use the Styles is to only use it in opportune moments where I know that I would deal the most amount of damage with the least amount of Kigen used. While other Battle Dancers can just throw around their Kigen without a slight care in the world, I on the other hand have to be efficient and smart with it.
It is the only way that I know how for now.
“Already low? How?” Severin seemed to have noticed my current state. But I just shrugged it off and said. “That's just how it is.” Severin still sent me a puzzling look, but I ignored it and pointed towards the next compartment. "They ran when they realized that they couldn't beat me. There were five of them. All wearing casual clothing but the most striking thing about them is the mask they wore.”
“What did it look like?”
"The mask covered their whole face. Pitch black with a single yellow star at the center of it. Oh and one more thing. I badly injured one of them with one of my Styles, so they're probably going to be out of commission for the next hour or so.”
"It doesn't matter. Just another weakling terrorist.”
“I wish she was just that but we need to be careful.”
“Why?”
“She has a Destruction type Kigen. “
The sound of groaning echoed through the air, yet the people around her acted as if she didn't even exist. Three people. Two of them wore Casual clothing, yet the two of them had two stars instead of one at the center of their masks. They both stood at attention to the one in front of them. The two gazed at the man who sat languidly while twirling the Three-Starred mask in his hand.
A bored expression was etched on his face. The man who seemed to be in his early twenties had curly dark hair, and handsome features that would make one think that he was a young master from a prestigious family. What was striking about him was his piercing purple eyes. He didn't even look at the three people with him.
“Sir Shiryu, something unforeseen has happened.” The young man named Shiryu did not respond and kept twirling his mask. Nevertheless, the two-starred man continued and said. “An unknown individual, most likely an imperial dog that wishes to enter Central Academy, has heavily injured two lackeys, and Lyla here.” Shiryu stopped twirling his mask and gave a slight glance to the woman named Lyla.
Lyla froze. She tried to stop her body from shaking but the heavy gaze that Sir Shiryu bore down upon her was too much to bear. The feeling was like being in front of an apex predator, and she was totally at his mercy. “The individual has also managed to bypass Lylas Destruction Kigen, leading to this.” Lyla sensed it, hearing the cold voice of reason that seemingly sent down judgment upon her. The man completely shifted the blame to her without her even being able to defend herself.
"Hooo. A small birdie managed to do this. Is it that ice-cold kid from the Schlieffen Family? It was either his guard or him. But most likely it was him since If I remember correctly, when we sent off the bomb, he left his compartment.”
“No Sir. It was not him. The said individual had dark hair and red eyes from Lyla's description. Though there remains a seed of doubt from a defeated individual.”
Lyla wanted to defend herself, but she knew better than anyone to butt into a conversation between higher-starred members.
“What should we do, Sir Shiryu? More time is needed for us to set everything up properly.”
“I don't know. Deal with it.”
"Wha-”
“I said to deal with it. Don't make me repeat myself.” Shiru exerted a purple aura, causing the two-starred man and woman to kneel. The two seemed to have heard the roar of a dragon but they didn't have time to take notice of it right now.” Y- Yes Sir.” They lowered their head in understanding and though as if it didn't exist, the pressure disappeared. The two quickly stood up, bowed, and left the compartment. The man grabbed Lyla by the arm and was about to drag her away when Shiryu said.
"Leave her. I have some plans for her.” The man froze. He looked at the pleading eyes from Lyla, and he simply smirked, as if saying, 'Serves you right.’ The two then walked away without looking back. Silence descended in the room once more. Lyla shakily gazed at Shiryu, as the man that he was staring at continued twirling his mask.
“How?” Shiryu asked.
“I- I don't understand... Sir Shiryu.”
“How did you defeat Little Birdie? And describe it in pure detail.”
Lyla was confused as to why he requested it from her, but she complied. All along while she narrated their fight, a grin was slowly rising from the side of his face. A thought popped into his mind.
‘Finally, some fun.’
"How is it?”
“I think I'm going to be fine now.” I did some stretches, jumped a little in place, and felt that I was good to go. "So fast?” Severin raised an eyebrow, not believing that I recovered half of my Kigen in a short 10 minutes. “Well, the heavens are fair in a sense.” I shrugged my shoulders and continued.
"Though I have a crappy pool of Kigen, like probably not even reaching 5 percent of yours, I make up for technique, efficiency, and a fast rate of Kigen recovery. Though I would trade it in an instant for an ocean's worth of Kigen.”
I didn't see it as I was facing towards the next compartment, but Severin had an interested and incredulous face. He quickly masked it though and said. “We have to move. I'll go first. You'll tire too quickly.”
“Hey, I'm not arguing. You are welcome to do so.” Why would I take the vanguard? Just a few uses of my styles and I'm probably gonna be an ice cream puddle that just melted. Slowly yet steadily, we started making our way towards the next compartment. Severin then suddenly opened the door, but the expected attack didn't come. Confusion spread between us but we kept moving.
But the next instance it happened again. The compartment was empty. Alarm bells started ringing in my bells as I had a bad premonition. Severin seemed to have had the same feeling but on a stronger scale. He dashed forward with Kigen Infused feet. I did the same except without Kigen. There was no need to. I dashed just a step behind him.
Severin looked back and had a surprising expression on his face but I pointed forward and said. “Look out!” Severin quickly ducked. I sidestepped, seeing the dagger fly right past me. I started towards where it came from and saw that the attacker was already dashing forward. It was a man that bore the same resemblance as the others. But he was a little different.
Instead of one star, he had two. The man somehow materialized another dagger and held twin daggers as he clashed with Severin. Sparks flew as Severin's sword collided with his daggers. The man continued his assault as a rain of slashes and stabs made their way to Severin. But despite it being so fast that it left after images, Severin managed to defend himself and even landed a good couple of punches.
It was shallow though. Their fight continued, with the man being faster and trickier, and Severin being colder and colder as his Kigen was used, the fight seemed apparent that it was tilting to Severin's side. Even Severin believed it himself when he realized he was winning when suddenly blood started drawing from his sides. Severin was slightly startled but he still responded promptly.
He used his frost-type kigen to heal and freeze the wound, stopping the bleeding for the moment. But fights aren't like those in the novels I read. His wound needs to be treated quickly or else it would get infected. Thankfully, as a Battle Dancer, we don't need to worry about it for the time being as Kigen can help the white blood cells of the body heal wounds. Severin then slightly leaned to the left but he quickly recovered.
Well, that is unless it's poisoned.
"Bastard. What did you do.” Severin said, his voice ice cold and free from emotion.
“It's nothing, oh young prince. Merely a strong dose of paralysis poison. I wanted to use a more deadly poison, the kind that can, you know, kill people. But the Sirs above me wish for you to live. Why? Well, that's none of my business.”
“Dishonorable scum.”
“Insulting me isn't going to help your case, young prince. In about 5 minutes the paralysis poison will reach your nerves that are connected to your muscles, which will cause you to just stop moving.”
“Don't believe him, it's going to reach you in at least 3 minutes. He's lying.”
“I know,” Severin said. Well, I guess it's time to step in and help. And as I was about to do just that, Severin blocked my path with his sword and said. “You will do no such thing. I only need two minutes to deal with this scum.”
"High-borns are as arrogant as ever I see.” The two-star man said.
We ignored him. I looked into Severin's eyes and saw the determination behind his eyes. Wow, I wish I had that degree of self-confidence. I raised my hands in surrender and stepped back. “But if the two minute mark passes, then it's my turn. “
“That will not happen.” Wow, such a cool one-liner. I also wish I had those.
Severin seemingly took a deep breath, and as he did, the ground that he stood started freezing. His every breath caused a white vapor that one would only see in extremely low-temperature environments. I see. He's lowering his body temperature to slow down the spread of the paralysis poison. Sure, that would work, but his two minutes will still pass either way.
A curious phenomenon happens when one reaches a certain level of kigen. At the start when one learns the basics of Kigen, they come across the positive and negative energies of the world. Positive or Negative Kigen in short. With it, they can use positive kigen to strengthen their muscles, causing them to lift objects several times heavier than their own weight. One can also use Negative Kigen, strengthening their fists and giving them power, enabling them to smash rocks and such.
A user can also use both positive and negative Kigen at the same time, but one would need more practice and skill to achieve such a feat. For you see, if a user both uses positive and negative kigen without learning how to harmonize them, then bursting one's own muscles would be the least of a user's worries. Normally, harmonizing the positive and negative energies of Kigen only happens at the next stage, not at the first stage.
And yet it's happening before my eyes. Sure I can do it too, but still. It doesn't just happen and appear like a chicken's egg. But who am I kidding, I should have expected this. He comes from the Schlieffen family.
But that's simply the basics of the basics. That is not a curious phenomenon. At that stage, you can barely be considered a battle dancer. It's only when one regains their own unique trait of Kigen. It varies from user to user, but it's easily recognized. It's when a battle dancer represents a certain part or element of the universe. In Severin's case, it's ice and frost.
1: 50 Seconds Left.
At the same time, I was making sense of what was happening to me, ten seconds passed. Severin no longer hesitated and dashed forward, leaving particles of negative ice energy in his wake. He gripped his sword tightly with both hands and sliced it at the enemy. Their weapons collided but Severin wasn't done. I could see particles of positive ice energy gathered to strengthen his entire body, while negative ice energy was sneakily gathering at his left hand.
Looks like a surprise attack if I ever saw one. I haven't seen one yet honestly. This is my first. It's just my guess. lol. Anyways, their battle continued.
1:30 Seconds Left.
For twenty seconds, their battle raged on. It might seem like nothing from an outside perspective, but for the battle dancers involved, it's akin to eternity passing by. The poison guy seemingly realized he couldn't beat Severin even if he was in a higher stage than him, and from the looks of it, he was just buying time.
Severin also realized this fact and tried ending it faster. He used more Kigen, as a frosty aura billowed from his being. His opponent, on the other hand, was slightly relaxed. He kept the usual pacing of the fight. And when Severin tried changing the pace that suited him, the poisoned dude simply lured him back to the usual.
1: 10 Seconds Left.
“Give up kid. Just quietly die. There is no use.”
“Shut up,” Severin replied. He sent a knee towards the man's stomach yet he only blocked it with his own knee. Severin tried elbowing him but it seemed that the man was mocking him as he also did the same. Severin tried even more moves on him yet it all ended the same way. The man used the same moves against Severin.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
The gap between them was apparent. A genius could indeed jump stages and fight Battle Dancers that are stronger than them, but there is a limit to it. It seemed that the man was in the middle of his stage, and it was already a miracle for Severin to last long.
1:00 Minute Left.
Poison dude took a quick glance at me, seemingly thinking that the moment Severin was finished, I was next. But that was a mistake, a grave mistake.
Severin took advantage of that small opening. The ice Kigen that he was gathering in his left hand appeared. In less than a second, it finished forming. Severin clenched his fist and shot it towards the man's chest. The poisoned dude was startled but quickly blocked using his daggers. He covered it with an insidious, toxic Kigen but it didn't seem to matter as Severin bulldozed right through it. He slammed his fist against the poison dude's chest, freezing it as it made contact.
Poison dude reeled back, and flew towards the door that led to the next compartment. He crashed against it, destroying the fine artistry of the wall's background.
1:25 Seconds left. Time stops.
Severin heaved up and down, apparent that he was exhausted. It's no wonder. He went almost all out despite the paralysis poison making its way through his system. Ice stopped forming around him. He turned around, stared at me, and gave me an arrogant look. “Alright, alright you win. There was no need.”
His eyes were giving me the I told you so, and it seemed that he really wanted to say it to me but was held back because of noble etiquette.
“Ugh.. cough* It's.. Useless. All of you. All of you will die. Sir- Sir will avenge me.”
The poisoned dude coughed up blood. Maybe because he got slammed against a wall and was spewing blood, his mask then dropped to the ground revealing his face. I was surprised. “It's him. He was the guy I saw earlier that I thought murdered someone.” Severin was also surprised and turned around to the poisoned dude.
Just as Severin was seemingly about to start interrogating him, the man suddenly said.
"The Stars Shall Rise Once More.”
The man seemingly bit something into his mouth. Severin darted forward to the man and tried stopping him, but it was too late. A peaceful smile covered his face, his head lulling to the side with his eyes wide open. “Tsk. Just die without making a fuss. He didn't have to be so dramatic at the end.” I said.
Severin didn't hear me, and seemingly pondered on the quote that the man just said. I noticed that maybe this wasn't a time for jokes, so I asked. “Do you know where that phrase comes from?”
“Hm. No. Never heard of it.”
Crap. It's one of those organizations. The one that is always so secretive. And it's the one that is always causing trouble. The type where every single member associated with them has a poison capsule in their gums. So whenever they are captured, they just need to bite that, and poof, their enemies don't have shit despite the work they did. I had no qualms with them, so why did they drag me into it? But I quickly brushed it off as there were more pressing matters to attend to.
“Alright come here. The little prince needs some healing.”
“What are you-”
“3... 2... aaaaaand 1.”
Severin stopped speaking and froze. Ironic. His body started tumbling backward, but I caught him in time and gently rested him against one of the still-intact chairs. His entire body stood frozen and seemingly lifeless. Well, almost everything.
“How? I thought I delayed it enough.”
“You did. That was until you stopped lowering your body temperature, causing the poison that was slowed down by it, to gain enough momentum and spread faster through your body. It was already a miracle that you were able to stand a few seconds more after you released your Kigen.”
“I see. Leave me. I'm deadweight. You need to stop the others.”
“Nah, no need. I got just the thing to fix you.”
“You're not a healer type Kayde.”
“That's true, but also not at the same time.”
Severin was puzzled by what I said, but I feel like an explanation is not going to be enough. Best to just show him.
24 Styles of Simplicity.
1st Style: Mercy of the Sun
Severin then went wide-eyed.
Chapter 6: Unique Traits
Kigen flows through existence itself.
If a Battle Dancer wishes to understand the depth of Kigen, then that sentence basically sums it up. How one interprets it, is up to them. It is both a fact, yet it leaves a Battle Dancer enough for their own interpretation. Thus creating, what is called, Unique Traits.
The Unique trait of a battle dancer emerges when they have completed their basic training, thus allowing them to move on to the next stage of their Evolution.
It is the stage where the battle dancer will learn to harmonize the positive and negative energies of Kigen, thus forming their own Unique Kigen that is solely theirs. How they form can be through a lot of things. It can be according to their nature, their likes and dislikes, their own upbringing, and their environment. There are a lot of factors to take into account. But some can be simpler than others.
The Severins family, for example, The Schlieffen Family, reside in the wintery depths of the north. Thus, it can be assumed that they will form some type of Kigen that is related to frost. There can exist cases where it goes against that line of reasoning, but rarely does it ever occur.
But the world is fair in a sense. Once a battle dancer emerges with their unique trait of Kigen, switching to another type is impossible. Using another type of Kigen that does not belong to you is also impossible. It's one of the eternal rules of Kigen. There are others like one who can only sense Kigen when they are Sixteen years of age and beyond. It's a mystery why that is, but it's believed that Kigen is too ancient of energy that it can't be used by a body that hasn't matured yet.
Though Kigen may necessarily flow through their body naturally, they can't sense nor control it.
Well, that was the rule, until I appeared.
A warm sensation that's akin to bathing oneself in sunlight flowed through Severin's system. Severin was wide-eyed, shocked that I was able to use a type of healing Kigen. His reaction is understandable. Healer-type battle dancers are as rare as an albino animal. There are very few of such since Battle Dancers are inherently aggressive by nature. There's a reason why Battle is included in the term.
"How? Thats-”
“Impossible? I know.” I responded before refocusing on healing. The paralysis poison, I realized, spread faster than I thought. Half a minute more and I am not surprised if Severin just passes out. That would have been par for the course, but I'm here.
Let's just hope he can take care of everyone else. I guess we don't have much time. I finished healing him. He inspected his body and he realized that he was fully healed. There isn't any more residual poison. And even if there was, it would be so insignificant that he could push it out on his own.
“How ya feeling?”
“Enough. Thank you Kayde.”
“Thank me when you're done beating the crap out of them. I used Half of my Kigen for that one Style. I'm gonna be useless for the next 10 minutes. What about you? How much Kigen do you have left?”
“Hmmm, about 80 percent.” Monster. Fucking monsters man. I don't know if I should be glad or jealous. Well, I can have both. I gave Severin an empty smile and he did indeed see it but did not pick up on the meaning behind it.
“I have more questions for you Kayde, but it can wait.” Oh yay. More of him pestering me with questions I don't want to answer. I simply ignored what he said, as we both looked at the door that led up to the next compartment.
“You got a plan, Severin?”
“Yes.”
“Great, what is it?”
“It's a simple one. I lead the way and beat them, while you stand and watch and recover.”
“That's not a really good plan, Severin. There's gonna be a lot of them inside. You know that right.”
“I know. And there has been something I haven't told you yet about this train.”
I didn't want to ask. Nope. Its better that I don't know.
“Those 2-Starred scum isn't the strongest one here.”
Seems like I didn't have a choice in the matter. “My Wulfin is telling me that a dangerous existence lies ahead. So much so, that its telling me to run and hide.”
“Then why aren't we listening to it again?”
“A Schlieffen doesn't run and hide. We fight.”
“Greaaaat.”
“You can run if you wish Kayde. You can protect the others while I'm gone.”
“Please. I'm Yarrow. Hardships are my everyday life.” We both looked at each other, nodded, and decided to follow the simplistic plan of Severin. I know that my Styles embody simplicity, but I didn't think it would extend to plans. Sigh.
“You go first.”
“With pleasure.”
Severin darted forward. Three One-Starred goons stood in Severin's path but it didn't even seem that their presence registered to him. He didn't even bother to use his sword and opted for his cold hands. Frost exuded from his fingertips. The three attacked one by one because of the cramped space, and that was their first disadvantage. The second was facing Severin in the first place.
Severin grabbed the man's face, seemingly freezing the man's head, and threw him out of the train. The second one slashes with his knife, and as if Severin was disgusted by seeing a knife, that poor sap got the worst end of it and was kicked squarely in the chest with a Kigen-empowered leg kick.
His chest seemingly caved in as he flew through the air. The last one dodged his flying companion and shot an arrow at Severin. It was fast, yet Severin was seemingly faster. He caught it with his hands, froze it, and snapped it in two. Wow, that's cool.
The archer slightly flinched, but notched a couple more arrows and shot it. It whizzed through the air. Severin no longer caught and instead opted to just sidestepped it, and darted towards the archer. The archer tried fighting back once he realized that Severin was already in front of him. He swung his bow at him yet it was fruitless.
Severin simply caught it, ripped it away from his hands, and front-kicked him. The archer fell backward and clutched his chest. The now former archer drew heavy breaths and yet the moment he looked towards Severin, he already saw his bow in front of his eyes. His eyes showed whites and fell to the side.
I whistled and said. “Woah. Nice work. At this rate, we might actually succeed.”
“I wish it were that simple.” He froze the bow in his hands, and crushed it, as the ice from it fell to the ground. “I know, I know, there's still the final boss.” I carelessly said, but I secretly gripped my palms. I may not have the instinctual prowess of a winter wolf, but even I felt that this wasn't going to be that simple.
“What's their plan exactly? They have already taken control of the train. This place is no different than a chopping block. If I were the evil mastermind, I would have just massacred everyone on board.” I said.
“I had the same thought. They may be lunatics, but they're not idiots.” Severin said, his voice ice cold and full of reason. He looked around the compartment. Every single person that once resided here was no longer here but there. Into some other compartment. They were gathering them for some reason. Kidnap? But why?
It was on such a mass scale that it already reached the hundreds.
"Sacrifices?” Severin said.
“Not likely. A sacrifice requires preparation. A ritual of sorts that is so complicated it would make your head hurt. And even if it was, why the hell would they do it on a train that is suspended above a body of-” Then it hit me. Severin seemed to have noticed it too and had a questioning gaze. It started to make sense. Why the explosion was centered on 1st-Class. Why didn't they just strap a crap ton of bombs on all the compartments? And while we were even in the middle of a bridge.
“Those lunatics. Crazy fucking bastards. We need to go. We need to stop them or were fucked.”
"What-”
"Severin, they're going to blow up the bridge and sink the train with it. They're going to make it look like all the passengers died due to natural causes or make them think it's just a normal terrorist attack. That would be the case if they were terrorists. We got this all wrong from the start.”
“They Are not terrorists that want to send the message. If they were that type, then we would have known about them already. My family has an extensive network of information that covers the entire continent. And yet I don't know about it.”
“Why do you think that is? Why do you think that if they were terrorists, why would they want to make it look like it happened due to natural causes.”
“It's because they are not terrorists,” Severin concluded. We both could see the alarm in our eyes. Without even communicating what we were going to do, we rushed into the next compartment. Screw the plan. We need to move. Because if we don't, everyone is not going to die but will suffer a fate worse than death.
We entered the next compartment and confirmed our suspicions. Severin and I saw the fear in the eyes of the passengers. They were huddled together everywhere. I could even see some bloodstains in some parts of the compartment. It seemed that some people tried to resist and yet failed in the end.
There was a woman at the other end of the train. She wore a pitch-black dress that reached all the way down to the ground. She had slender arms that held twin daggers. And on her face was a pitch-black mask that had 2 Yellow Stars at the center. It seemed that she was the same type as the last 2-starred man Severin defeated. But my senses tell me that she is far more dangerous.
We wanted to strike fast and kill the woman, but there was a problem. The woman was smart. She used the passengers as a wall of flesh that prevented us from ever even approaching her. If Severin or I even moved fast, there was a good chance that we would step on the passengers. They were so huddled up together that there was no space to speak of.
“What do you want!" I shouted. I took a quick glance at Severin and he seemed to have understood what I thought. Slowly, he started taking a few steps back, quietly gathering KIgen in his legs.
“What everybody wants. Peace. Peace in our godforsaken world.”
“Well if you want peace, then why did you guys bomb a bunch of people and take hostages that are a dozen more.”
“A price must be paid for true peace to exist.”
"And you think killing a bunch of people is okay?”
“Of course not.”
That caught me off guard. I thought that she would defend her point and keep insisting on it. I never actually believed that she would be aware of it and even openly admit it. "The sins we commit will be worth it in the end. For our true saviors will come, and bestow upon us a gift. A gift of everlasting life. Everlasting peace."
“Lunatics.” I realized that I actually said it out loud but the woman didn't seem to have cared. As I was about to continue speaking, the woman suddenly said.
"I know what you are doing. And it's useless.” Crap, we were busted. I then quickly gazed at Severin and signaled for him to go, but Severin seemingly froze when he gazed at the front. I looked back and saw that the woman was grabbing the hair of a child. The child cried for his parents, and his parents even tried pulling the boy back, but the woman simply pointed her dagger at the throat of the child.
"YOU LUNATIC! LET GO OF HIM.” Severin suddenly shouted. His ice-cold composure vanished. Replaced with the simmering rage that was akin to a winter storm that was about to arrive. Ice started spreading from the ground he stood on but he didn't move. He couldn't move. If he moved, I would stop him. I don't know what to do. Fuck. Oh, wait.
“Move even an inch and the blood of a young child will spill.”
“Stop! He has nothing to do with this.” Severin said.
“On the contrary, everyone here has everything to do with this. It's because of you, that you all are at fault. Not us. NOT US.” The woman rambled, as a maniacal laugh of hers echoed across the room. The already terrified passengers covered their eyes and tried covering themselves with anything. Some of the children on board even started to cry.
But I kept my cool. I looked at Severin and saw that even he was panicking, not knowing what to do. ‘Calm down. I have a plan.’ I whispered. Due to all the noise created by the passengers, this was an opportunity. Severin noticeably started calming down. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
‘What do I have to do.’
'First, give me your sword.’
'Done.’ I took a glance at the woman and saw that she was going insane. She was still laughing and it should continue that way. Severin unlatched the harness that tied the sword to his sides, and gently slid it to me. I stopped it using my foot and cautiously, lowered my body to an optimal posture.
‘Once I attack, dash to her. Got it?’
'Huh?’
‘Just do it!’
Severin nodded, and though he was confused as to how I was going to attack at this distance, his eyes told me that he would trust me. That is enough. But the woman, done with her maniacal laugh, suddenly shouted. “What are you-”
24 Styles of Simplicity.
14th Style: Long Distance Cut
In one fluid motion, I lowered my body enough so that I could grab the sword, unsheathed it, and using the momentum from my lowered body, sliced. In a second, the sound of screaming could be heard, but it was not from the child. I looked on and saw that the arm holding the boy was cut. The sliced arm fell to the ground as a spray of blood showered the nearby passengers.
The moment I looked, Severin was already halfway, and in a second, he crashed into the woman. He sent a Kigen-infused fist towards the woman but it seemed that she had already recovered. She used her remaining arm and deflected Severin's attack with her dagger. The woman chuckled in victory, thinking that she already won. She only needed to slice her dagger once anywhere, and bodies would drop.
Unfortunately, she met us. She saw that Severin stepped away to the side and had a puzzled reaction, yet it was quickly erased when she saw that I was also right in front of her.
24 Styles of Simplicity.
12th Style: Heaven’s Fist.
With a golden light that resembled the gates of heaven, I shot it towards the woman. She was fast. She was able to react in time and tried doing the same thing she did with Severin. She soaked her dagger with her Kigen and used that to try blocking my fist. Yet I only smiled. She saw my smile and I felt like she had warning bells ringing in her ears but it was too late. My fist and her blade made contact, and yet it was only her blade that broke.
Her dagger shattered into tiny little pieces, and yet the trajectory of my fist continued and I slammed it against her chest. She seemed to have coughed up blood, as it dripped from her mouth. She crashed against the door to the next compartment and lay there unconsciously.
"One hit huh,” Severin said.
“Yeah but thanks to that, my Kigen is basically at zero. The Long Distance Cut also took a lot out of me.”
“Can you still fight?”
“I never said that.” Even though I didn't have much Kigen for now, and would need time to recover, it didn't mean that I couldn't fight. It would just be annoying without Kigen, but definitely could hold my own without Kigen. Severin seemingly chuckled, and I also joined in as we thought that finally, it was over.
It was then that a slow clap emerged from the next compartment.
“Well done little birdies.”