CHAPTER 18

TRICKS OF MAGNETISM

Hikaru and Amber raced side by side through. greenery with Nanu nowhere in sight. Both breathed heavily and were exhausted, but neither stopped. Hikaru’s body ached all over from having so many cuts, and the injuries at the soul of his feet felt worse with every step. He looked over his left shoulder, finding Amber falling behind.

“Come on, this isn’t the time for getting tired on me,” he uttered, grabbing her shirtsleeve to yank her forward. Amber shoved his arm away, and started pushing herself harder to keep pace. Hikaru checked behind them with his setting sense, immediately locating Nanu’s position, and felt an unnatural amount of magnetic energy. “Our enemy’s only four hundred meters behind us, and he’s catching up fast.”

“What about Kamari?” Amber posed.

Hikaru stretched his setting sense further outward, but couldn’t find Kamari anywhere. “I can’t sense him.”

“Then we should circle back around,” Amber said, her face gleaming with concern.

“No,” Hikaru disagreed quickly. “If we do that, we may end up fighting more enemies instead of one.” Hikaru stopped in his tracks, and Amber halted as well. “We’ll take this guy out first, then go back.”

Amber frowned up with impatience. “And what if we lose?”

“In that case, we wouldn’t have been any help,” Hikaru voiced. “Plus, we’d be bringing another enemy against Kamari.” Hikaru paused. “This guy, I think he’s tracking us through the magnetism our bodies naturally emit.”

“What do you mean—”

“Every human body is slightly magnetized… in some cases so strongly it’s been recorded that certain people can actually hold up small metallic objects by placing them against their skin.”

“This isn’t the time for simple facts,” Amber raved furiously.

“It isn’t a simple fact, it’s—”

Before Hikaru could finish, he found himself being embraced tightly, almost as if Amber were trying to squeeze him out of breath. He understood every drop of her peaked emotions; they’d been through so many life threatening situations together in a little more than a week’s time, making their bond all the more close. Hikaru hugged her back, then pulled her off.

“Lets not throw in our towel just yet,” he said, looking down upon her face. “Anything’s possible.”

Amber turned around, then faced the direction of woods where their stalker approached while Hikaru stepped in front of her. He sensed Nanu closing in hastily, not bothering with conserving hakq anymore, and this hasty method he now used made it pointless for them to continue fleeing. There were a few seconds of silence while a light flashed toward them, until finally, Nanu arrived, basking within his purple hakq. A huge barren pathway showed, where he’d plowed through plant life instead of moving around it. His sphere shaped barrier touched the ground, then tightened, taking form around his body just before both feet landed.

“I’ll make each of you suffer for what your friend did to me earlier,” said Nanu.

“Sounds like a deal,” said Hikaru, faking his calmness. “ That’s if— you’re even capable of killing us.”

Amber stepped forward. “Hikaru, his power’s not just magnetism, he can also find the weakest point of any matter, and crush it.”

“You little spoiler,” Nanu said slyly. “You’ll pay me in extra screams for giving away my secret.”

Nanu materialized seven katanas, levitating each sword in midair. Hikaru shoved Amber behind him, and although pain incurred, began powering up with his destructive white hakq— only this time, he couldn’t stream enough currents to focus its light in a straight line for a blast. He raised both hands, then tried his hardest, but failed at mustering up anything.

“Oh, how sad,” Nanu chuckled.

Hikaru shielded Amber with his own body as several blades came hurling. Closing his eyes, there were no thoughts— then— he heard whipping high winds around his body, and the clanking together of several swords. Hikaru opened his eyes to see nothing in front guarding him from Nanu, and yet, he knew something existed, dangling at not only his setting sense, but four of his other senses as well. He gazed behind himself to find Amber with her arms stretched out overhead.

“What is this?” Hikaru asked, feeling an ominous breeze through his hair.

“It’s something I picked up recently,” said Amber.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“But when?”

“Just focus!”

Hikaru turned his head toward Nanu, watching as he approached the invisible barrier out of curiosity. High winds tossed his long brown bangs in every in direction. He stepped back, and his hair fell down, then he gracefully wiped it out of his face.

“More…. and more mysterious,” Nanu muttered.

Hikaru understood nothing, but what he did know satiated enough; Amber’s defensive tactic now gave him precious time for strategizing, and that’s all he needed to assess another probable way of victory. Still traveling through dense forest, Kamari activated his velocity speed the moment that he sensed Amber and Hikaru coming before a stand off. While in ghost form, he rushed through much plant life until he reached his desired destination. Kamari peaked through the wilderness, secretly watching both Hikaru and Amber while they stood inside odd currents of wind. With his vision focused, he saw Amber’s thin hakq turning like many powerful turbines, stimulating winds all around a clear hard plastic barrier. Thoughts to help gently crossed Kamari’s mind, but he didn’t abide by them.

With his body in pain, and his powers low, Hikaru concentrated hard, allowing his mind fluid assessment. He noticed the outlining of Nanu’s magnetic barrier, and how it behaved comparably with a theory about earth, which produces a magnetosphere that protects all life forms from harmful deadly effects from the sun; but some charged particles were able to penetrate through weaker areas, and interact with earth’s atmosphere when projected at high speeds, which explained why the aurora borealis lit up both polar skies; still, there remained something variably different about Nanu’s magnetosphere; it didn’t give off the same type of field that a single magnet generated around itself, instead, its forces curved in every direction like bunches of still waves in a wild ocean that had miraculously been paused motionless.

“This is a nice trick, but your girl can only stall for so long,” said Nanu.

Hikaru gazed over his shoulder at Amber, watching her struggling efforts.

“Just concentrate,” she said in a shaky voice, looking up at him while drowned in sweat.

Hikaru turned his full attention back at the enemy to further analyze, and quickly discovered why there were so many ripples. Hikaru comprehended so much more now; he understood that magnetism existed as an invisible force and it was Nanu’s hakq that shined vividly purple, precisely wrapping itself around every magnetic wave to keep them generating strongly, making the shield more dense. Which meant… if Nanu could see them through the barrier, then light particles could also pass through in smaller doses. Hikaru used his setting sense, then came to realize numerous north and south poles that surrounded his opponent, which explained why all magnetic fields curved in various directions. Reaching deep, Hikaru felt energy swirling around on top of his chest; there wasn’t much of it, and he certainly feared forcing more out after thinking about his near death experience. Although he couldn’t focus his energy enough for taking a shot from long distance, there remained still a slight chance in close combat that he could generate enough hakq particles through Nanu’s magnet shield and destroy his adversary.

“That’s enough, I’ve got a plan,” said Hikaru.

Amber’s hands fell at her waste while she dropped on her knees in exhaustion. Both whirlwind shield and plastic shield ceased being, and Nanu smirked as he watched Amber breathe heavily.

“Savor those breaths, because they’ll be your very last.”

Hikaru ignored his enemy’s threats and burst forward with as much speed as he could muster while igniting white hakq around his body. Nanu raised one palm forward, then wrapped Hikaru inside a magnetic dome that repelled him back. Hikaru tried launching forth with greater effort, but got shoved back again with even greater force. He gazed at Nanu avidly, instantly noticing how every curve of energy around him manifested into purple dots.

“Come on now, you’re way low on energy for firing off any kind of shot, so of course I anticipated your attack would be close range,” Nanu said arrogantly.

Hikaru’s scientific mind didn’t know whether to be more excited or fearful; on one hand he’d been trapped like a lab rat, incapable of getting near his foe, but on the other, he found it awfully thrilling actually witnessing a natural monopole. Feeling that Hikaru and Amber learned more than enough from the battle, Kamari fluxed back in. Just as he figured on making his move, Hikaru formed a passage inside the small dome that encircled himself, and shoved a hand through it. Kamari gazed onward as Nanu’s arms filled with huge bloodless gashes while Hikaru’s hand rested around Nanu’s wrist.

“A two way synced portal!” Nanu bellowed out raspingly.

Kamari shrugged in embarrassment for his lack of faith in Hikaru’s cleverness as Nanu fell against the ground face first. Hikaru quickly spotted Kamari on the path of destroyed brushes, then fell backwards on solid dirt.

“Hikaru!” Amber squealed, getting to her feet, and jogging toward him. She knelt down, eying his cuts while Kamari approached and stood over her. Amber peered up. “Will he be okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Kamari assured her.

Glancing right, Kamari spotted a structural energy inside the brushes. Amber slammed one hand against her own mouth to prevent herself from screaming, and instead, let out a small squeak when seeing Wah appear out in the open. The woman walked toward her own partner and stood near his corpse with dispassion.

“What do you want?” Kamari asked, roughly glaring at her in suspicion.

“To know why you spared my life,” Wah said softly.

“It’s because unlike Asani, you’re not a betrayer,” Kamari responded.

A chill crept up Amber’s spine, and tension mounted in her neck.

“You’re one of the most powerful warriors I’ve ever met.” Wah said admittedly. “Your friend tried telling me that some mystery man took out a member of Elitist. The only one I can imagine being that person— is you.”

Kamari’s glaring didn’t lighten. “Yes, I am the one who defeated Asako Yatashi.”

Wah smirked. “You’re strong, but the rest of Elitist will be significantly stronger than Asako, the man you defeated. All of you will require training for preparing yourselves since you’ll be outnumbered.You’ll need preparation the most… Amber.”

Wah walked pass her partner until entering the forest. Kamari then knelt down, cradled Hikaru’s body in his arms, and lifted from his knees to hoist him up.

“Come on,” he said, peering again at the forest area. “It’s not safe for us lingering here.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll rest some miles out from here, then head to Wikiki Hawaii.”

Kamari created a portal, then stepped inside with Amber following in behind him.