"Twenty three minutes remaining, Master Kaori"

That night was the coldest of fall. The sun was covered in grey clouds and all the leaves and grass were dry and brittle. The wind was present, but not raging. It was only there in a light whistle.  Not enough to put out a flame… but just enough to fuel it.

Kaori picked this day intentionally of course. Nothing can be unintentional for a man that wants to control everything.

"I know exactly how long we have, Dakara. I am not the same as your old master."  He gestured to Dakara dismissively and turned his attention back to the scenery.

The city Kaori and Dakara were observing was in a valley, about 150 feet below them. On the highlands, a thick forest concealed hundreds of Kaori's men.

Seventeen guards were all stationed along the perimeter of the entrance of the city.

"They are outnumbered," thought Kaori. "But I mustn't forget these guards are Akoi, whose abilities far surpass that of my men." He looked down at his timer. It marked nineteen minutes.

A cluster of soldiers could be seen approaching the city. There were 7 of them, just as Kaori had wanted.

"Dakara, adjust the radio," Kaori whispered. "You did mic him, didnt you?" Dakara nodded and turned the volume higher.

As the soldiers arrived at the entrance, one of the guards bowed to them. "I heard the mission went well. Good work, comrades."

The rest of the guards also bowed.

One by one, the soldiers went to the guards and showed them their hands. After the guard had held up their palms and inspected them, they were let through the city entrance. Last on the  line was a tall soldier with wavy dark hair and deep-set green eyes.

Dakara clenched his fists as he watched the last soldier raise both his hands to be inspected.

The guard paused for a moment and stared at the soldier with narrowed eyes. "You…" muttered the guard.

Upon hearing the guards suspicious tone, Dakara reached for his sword, but Kaori's hand stopped him.

The soldier met the guard's gaze calmly. His hands were still being held by the guard.

"You...did especially well on the mission, I heard," he said.

They gave each other quick, welcoming smiles, and the last soldier was let into the city.

"Your plan...it worked well, Master Kaori," said Dakara hesitantly.

Kaori ignored him and kept his eyes on the black-haired soldier entering the city, the only soldier among the 7 who did not have on a helmet.

Kaori looked at his timer again. Twelve minutes remaining. He picked up a stone and tossed it right onto the city. Rather than the stone falling down the valley, it stopped right before it could drop below the level the highland was on. It was seemingly suspended in mid-air. "The strength of this mana field is truly impressive," thought Kaori. "They can keep it running 24/7. Their mana field, the guards, and the strategic placement of the village in a valley--this city seems truly impenetrable."  He picks off a leaf from the bush he was hiding behind. "It's almost a shame," Kaori mutters. He closes his hand around the leaf and crushes it. A faint red glow shines through his fist. When he opened his hand again, the leaf was gone, and in its place were ashes.

Kaori watched as the soldiers entered the main building. Once they did, he turned to Dakara…

"It is time."

Kaori pointed to a chimney on one of the city houses and snapped his fingers twice. Two clouds of smoke puffed out.

"The signal, everyone! Take positions!" One of Kaori's men yelled.

"Forgive us, King Landar," said another

"God, please save us," Kaori's men whispered from the woods.

The main tower exploded into flames and debris flew in every direction. At that moment, the stone that was suspended in the air...dropped.

"NOW!" yelled Dakara.

Kaori's men emerged from the woods and jumped down the valley onto the city. The citizens looked up in terror as they witnessed men falling from above. Kaori could hardly see down into the city through the swarm of soldiers. Many wielded axes and swords but others punched cleanly through houses upon landing. Some of Kaori's men blew fire from their mouths, setting rows of houses ablaze. The smoke from the burning homes and the smell of death and blood filled the cold night's air.

Kaori had his hands in his pockets as he watched the chaos. The reflection of the burning homes flickered in his clear eyes. He drew a deep long breath and let out a sigh. His youthful face was evidently tired and worn. He leaned back exasperatedly and ran his hands through his disheveled red hair.

"It's too slow for you, isn't it, Kaori?" asked Dakara, emerging from the woods.

Kaori turned. "Yes, I'm afraid it is."

The two looked down at the burning city.

Over three hundred guards were lined up in a triangle-like formation. The citizens rushed to stand inside the formation. The guards placed their hands in front of them, and an invisible barrier formed around them.

Kaori scratched his head. "Again with these mana fields?" His men swung swords and axes at the barrier, but they bounced right back as though they were hitting rubber. Others rushed the formation at blinding speeds and punched the barrier with such force, it was enough to shake the entire valley, but still the barrier did not budge.

"FORMATION SIGMA!" shouted one of the city guards. Like worker ants, they in perfect sync formed a circle around the citizens. "RELEASE" yelled the guards in unison. The barrier faded away, and the guards were standing in the ancient Akoi fighting stance. They held out their palms rather than their fists, and they swayed their arms gently as though mimicking waves.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Seeing the mana field had gone down, Kaori's men advanced towards the circle. The city guards stood their ground.

"DIE!!" yelled one of Kaori's men, swinging an ax at a guard.

The guard raised his hand. At the moment of impact, the ax shattered as though it were porcelain. Kaori's soldier looked down at his demolished weapon in confusion. Before he could react, he was met with an open palm strike directly to his chest.

Kaori's soldier soared into a stone wall a hundred meters away. The other city guards used the same striking technique to deflect the invaders and send them flying to their death.

One female soldier penetrated the guards' formation by jumping cleanly over it. As soon as she landed in the center, she held her stomach and winced. The pain was enough to make her drop to her knees. It was as though she had been stabbed there, but she could see no one strike her. Then she noticed one of the village guards was pointing right at her stomach. The guard clenched his fist, causing her to drop dead, still holding her stomach.

Kaori grimaced.

"The Akoi are wiping the floor with your men," Dakara said. "Their mana is beyond any level I've ever seen. Are you certain this will wo-"

"Dakara, hush if you wish to see your wife and son again," said Kaori, eyes still fixed on the battle. His lip was curled into a disappointed frown and his long hair covered his eyes. He suddenly looked up as though realizing something.

Dakara watched in confusion as Kaori began to remove his boots and socks. "What are you doing?

"I told you not to speak, didn't I?" He got down on one knee and placed his hand on the ground. His frown curled into an exaggerated, wide eyed smile. He faced Dakara. "Dakara… you said those Akoi possessed the strongest mana that you'd ever seen, right?"

Dakaras eyes were wide with fear. He reached for the blade at his side.

"Kaori, no... I cannot let you."

Kaori's grin widened even more. "It is too late...since the beginning of this mission I knew it was going to come to this, I just needed a distraction."

Dakara drew his blade. It was a long and thin curved blade. Engraved at the tip was the symbol of the Irrigo tribe. "You will kill everyone, even your own men!" Dakara charged Kaori. "If I allow you to, I would be just as much of a sick bastard as you!"

Kaori sent a whirling ball of fire from his fingertips at Dakara, whose blade cut through the fire ball like a scissor through silk. Dakara flipped his sword so that the blade faced him. He lept into the air and from the butt of the sword flew out 3 small throwing knives headed straight for Kaori.

A wall of molten lava erupted from the earth in the knives' path, stopping it from reaching Kaori.

"How?" thought Dakara. "Could his mana control range extend that far down into the earth?"

Kaori placed his hand on the wall of molten lava. The wall was so hot, it burned all the plants anywhere near it. However Kaori's hand was unaffected.

Raising his left arm, Kaori commanded a giant wall of lava to stretch forward five hundred feet ahead. He did the same with his right arm, causing another wall to rise up. Dakara was trapped between these massive barriers slowly closing in on him.

They were over 100 feet tall, too high for Dakara to leap over. His only option was to charge directly at Kaori.

"You will never be what King Landar is!" His tears flowed from his eyes as he sprinted towards Kaori. His knuckles were white from gripping his sword. "I will kill him if it is the last thing I do!" Dakara thought.

Kaori stood confidently. The ground beneath the two was blisteringly hot. Dakara felt the heat melting his shoes. "It's now or never." He tossed his sword, high up in the air. The moonlight glistened off the fine metal.

Dakara leaped up and caught it mid-air. He pointed the tip at Kaori and exclaimed, "100 blades of death!" Dakaras clothes began to rumble and from underneath his blue silk robe, a multitude of knives launched out. He commanded the knives to launch at Kaori. Then, like an orchestra conductor, he waved his sword, causing the knives to spiral around Kaori.

Dakara landed in front of Kaori, still commanding the knives to spiral around him. He flipped his sword elegantly and slowly began putting it back into its sheath. The deeper the blade went into the sheath, the tighter the spiral of knives around Kaori became, until eventually, the sword was all the way in

The spinning blades came to a sudden halt. They remained suspended in the air, but were no longer closing in on Kaori."Impossible" thought Dakara. "The only way to stop my attack is to-"

When Dakara looked down he realized he had been struck, directly through the center of his stomach. The spot where his flesh had been was only an empty hole through which he could see a fist, a fist that was literally on fire.

The voice behind the fist was convulsed with laughter. "The only way to stop the attack is to kill you, isn't it, Dakara?" mocked the voice.

Dakara fell to his knees and behind him, Kaori still held out the fist which he had used to punch through his stomach.

Kaori  blew on his fist, putting out the flame, and squatted down to look Dakara in the eyes. "You would have killed anyone else with that attack. It is a specialty of the Irrigo tribe, is it not?" He chuckled. "What does it matter anyway? Your death is one of the many that will occur when people get in my way."

He brushed off the dust from his shoulder and stood up, looking at Dakara lying on the ground.

Just as Kaori began to walk away, Dakara drew his last breath and gasped, "Long live the king"

Kaori laughed.

"Long live indeed."

He reached through Dakaras chest with the fire fist and crushed his heart.

He returned to the spot he had been observing from. Hundreds of his men laid lifeless on the floor, but not a single one of the city guards had gone down yet.

"These Akoi, they are too strong. Kaori rubbed his hands together. He separated his feet shoulder width apart and bended his knees, cementing himself into a strong stance. This is exactly why I considered them such a threat. He stomped his feet, digging them into the dirt. "They should be honored, since I took such drastic measures to exterminate them."

With both fists, he slammed the ground, turning over boulders and trees.  The damage caused by his fist nearby was minimal compared to what was happening below.

Deep within the earth, molten lava and fire was being churned with the force caused by Kaori. This time, it was not the lava he was after.

It was the heat energy that fiery substances possessed. His body acted as a filter, absorbing the heat and converting it into pure mana energy. Energy which he could use for his own destructive purposes.

"This is going to be the most energy I've ever consumed!" His arms trembled as they absorbed a red aura emitted by the ground. As he absorbed it, the aura began to cover his entire body. After a few more seconds, the red aura that surrounded him became denser and broke out into flames, burning most of his clothes right off.

The light coming from Kaori was enough to illuminate the night sky and send heat waves across the landscape. The once cool night's air was hotter than any of the days summer has to offer and the leaves on the dry winters trees burst into flames. The fire aura that surrounded Kaori turned  into an enormous ball of fire, which he held above his head.

The city guards and Kaori's men turned to face it.

Kaori's entire body was covered in black burn marks and dirt, but there was not a single real flesh burn on him. Beads of sweat fell from his temple and he shook as he held the enormous ball, which grew until it was the size of an elephant. He leaped hundreds of meters into the air until his head nearly reached the clouds, and launched the ball down to the valley…

It didn't sound like searing a hot piece of food, frying on a pan. Nor like a crackling flame. Not even like an explosion. The people could not be heard screaming despite mountain-size debris flying every which way. All that could be heard was a slight high pitched hum…

As Kaori fell from the sky, he didn't even bother catching his fall. He simply landed where the village and the valley had once been, creating a small crater.

He lay there, alone. No trees or people, and there was no longer a valley. All that remained was one leveled dirt ground.

His body was covered in ash and dirt and his hands and arms were red. His red hair was hardly red at all and the only part of him that wasn't covered in dirt were his palms. From the inside of his little crater, he smiled graciously at the sky.

A faint ringing sound came from his right pocket (the half of his pants that remained). He pulled out the battered, half burned timer.

It marked zero seconds, just as Kaori had wanted...