Chapter 8

South of the Naval Mountain range is the Land of the Beasts. Every instance of someone trying to travel there to explore ends in there disappearance or obvious death. Even though they maintain aggression when someone intrudes their territory, it seems they care for humans in some odd way.

-Research of the Land of the Beasts

Kagu laid in bed next to his wife sound asleep, exhausted from the numerous meetings he attended throughout the day. Suddenly a large blast erupted in the distance, echoing over the city. Kagu and Etsuko bolted awake and sat up, looking out of the windows to their right. In the far distance within the walls of the city they saw thick trails of smoke rising to the sky. “What’s going on?” Etsuko asked.

“Not sure but I have to go,” Kagu said getting out of his bed and walking out onto his balcony attached to the bedroom.

Wearing nothing but a pair of black pants, Kagu leaped off of his balcony and headed to the center of the city. As he entered the fray, he saw several Atomo guards battling against a group of Tokanoba soldiers. Kagu shocked by what he saw, flicked his wrist at the Tokanoba insurgents and sent a wave of dark red fire at them. Crashing into the Tokanoba soldiers the flames instantly incinerated them into ash. The Atomo guards looked back in surprise to see their fearless leader has arrived. “Status report now,” Kagu ordered walking up to the group.

“Sir, Tokanoba soldiers, have breached our walls and are currently attacking our people,” a guard reported.

“How did they breach our walls?” Kagu asked in disbelief.

“It’s Svolik, he seems to have to have some kind of artifact that can easily destroy matter,” the guard responded.

Kagu clinched his large fists in anger and ground his teeth. “Where is he?” he coldly said.

“Last time we saw him he was in the Industrial District,” the guard said.

Kagu pressed his hand out to his side and formed a red flame in his palm. The flame quickly became darker and darker until it was pitch black. By that time it began burning what seemed to be a hole in the air. As the hole opened the fire burned it further, making it larger. Once the hole was big enough, Kagu stepped through into the void. As he cleared the hole, it shut behind him sealing him into the space. Complete silence followed as the darkness engulfed him. Kagu released a pulse of nimora that rang throughout the city. Numerous souls leaped into his vision as his eyes fell on the largest one he could see. Kagu was certain that it was Svolik, so he immediately closed the space between them. Kagu cocked back his right hand with a closed fist and engulfed it in black fire. He sprung his fist forward burning a hole through the void yet again. As it entered back into reality, his fist quickly met with Svolik’s face. Shockwaves exploded from the contact area sending Svolik tumbling through the streets. Moments later he ran into the city wall and smashed through it as if it was made of porcelain. A cloud of dust trailed behind him as he passed through the wall. Svolik continued uncontrollably tumbling from Kagus strike. After smashing through a series of forest trees, he finally came to a halt. Laying on the forest floor in a great deal of discomfort, Svolik tried to stand up before Kagu could find him again but it was too late. Before Svolik could move, Kagu appeared over the top of him by exiting the void once again and stomped him back into the ground. Svolik let out a painful grunt as Kagu grabbed ahold of his neck and began violently punching him in the face repeatedly. “You fucking swine!” Kagu yelled as he continued the strikes, holding nothing back.

Svolik couldn't take the punches for much longer. He raised his right hand up to Kagu’s chest. Attached to Svolik’s hand was an artifact that resembled a decorative cylinder with a handle coming off of the side. Protruding off of the handle to the artifact was a collection of vines that wrapped around Svolik’s wrist and forearm, securing the artifact to the user. As he pressed the end of the cylinder to Kagu’s torso, it began glowing a white aura around it. Kagu was too preoccupied and possessed by his rage to notice what Svolik was doing. The artifact quickly got brighter, and Svolik shot a thick white light beam from the cylinder. A loud boom sounded off, and the white energy beam erupted on Kagus chest sending him flying into the air with an immense explosion. Kagu performed an agile backflip and gracefully landed on his feet. Smoke rolled off of his chest from where the beam had hit him, but Kagu seemed completely unfazed. By the time Kagu landed on the ground Svolik had arisen from the dirt. On the left side of his face was a glowing orange fist mark from where Kagu initially hit him. The mark consisted of square smoldering blisters that resembled burning coals. Svolik swiped his hand over the painful burn, but they would not come off of his face. The burning continued to get worse and deeper as time went on. “Answer me this before I end your life, why are you doing this?” Kagu said.

Svolik glared at Kagu for a moment before responding, “Tokanoba should be mine.”

Kagu bore a look of angry confusion as he didn't understand what the leader of Tokanoba meant. “Excuse me?”

“Tokanoba should be the strongest country in the continent, but no. Your constant overlooking of everything we do stunts everyone's potential so you can reign supreme over all. Tokanoba belongs to the Byouxon Empire!” Svolik said with distaste.

Kagu grew even angrier at his statement. “I had a feeling that Ikioi didn't kill all of you Byouxon cocksuckers.”

“He killed my father and grandfather, but left me,” Svolik said smiling.

Kagu gritted his teeth, eager to kill Svolik. “I excelled in the military when Hatsu renamed the land Tokanoba, and by the time your grandfather Kado took leadership of the Atomo Clan I already had my foot in the door to be the leader of Tokanoba,” Svolik said, aiming his artifact at Kagu. “So I'm here to take back what is mine.”

Before Kagu could respond, Svolik shot yet another beam headed straight for the head of the Atomo Clan. As the beam closed in Kagu engulfed his right hand in red fire and swung it at the blast. “You idiot!” Kagu snarled.

Kagu’s fist met with the beam followed by a powerful shockwave. Even though the beam was extraordinarily powerful, it was no match against Kagu’s fire. Quickly his fist smashed through the beam and the white energy that it consisted of began to dissipate. Before Svolik could act, Kagu held both of his arms out at shoulder length. Multiple strands of raging red fire began to spiral around his arms, making their way to his hands. As they arrived at his hands, they began forming into the shape of broad-headed axes, just a foot or so longer than arm's length. As the fire fully formed the weapons, they began converting themselves into solid dark steel. Intricately coursing over the axe heads was a series of thin glowing red veins, as if they were smoldering. On the rear of the axe heads were long thin pikes with a barb on the end, similar to a harpoon. As the axes manifested, Kagu grabbed onto them and entered a fighting stance.

Svolik aimed his artifact again at Kagu to fire another beam. Kagu sprung forward at Svolik with a great amount of force. Svolik not expecting such a quick response shot the beam directly at him. Kagu countered by leaping high in the air, allowing the beam to safely pass underneath him. Svolik’s eyes widened at the unpredicted movement his opponent just conducted. Kagu now clear of the attack, began diving down at Svolik with both axes swung back. Svolik quickly tried to raise his artifact up at Kagu to shoot at him again, but Kagu was closing in to close. Upon swinging distance Kagu swung his axes at him with all his might. Svolik desperately ducked down, narrowly avoiding one of the axes. Svolik attempted to take a leap back away from Kagu but the second axe nicked him on the left shoulder. Blood began spilling from his wound, and he let out a pitiful grunt. Because of how hard the axe hit him Svolik lost his balance and fell down to one knee. Kagu took complete advantage of the situation and ruthlessly kneed Svolik in the chest. Svolik yelled in pain as the rib bones that took the hit broke into pieces. Svolik slid into a tree and aimed his artifact at Kagu again. “You're weak!” Kagu yelled, his deep, gritty voice perfectly displayed his anger as he charged at Svolik.

Kagu towered over Svolik and grabbed his artifact. He squeezed as hard as he could and began cracking the cylinder. “Is this artifact all you are? Shoot me again with it you worthless fuck! Shoot me!” Kagu said, swinging his axe down at Svolik’s head.

Svolik shot a beam out of the cylinder into Kagu’s hand. The beam ate through his hand and dug its way into the rest of his body. As the beam continued Kagu’s body completely turned to fire and got blown away by the blast. Svolik has seen Kagu do this before during battles prior to this. It was a fire clone, there to substitute Kagu just long enough for him to gain an advantage. Svolik looked around, desperate to find Kagu. He saw Kagu in the distance holding his large axes. Kagu opened his arms and held his axes to the sky. A flame doorway opened to each side of him and four giant dogs completely made of fire stepped out. Each hound was a different color consisting of orange, red, blue, and white. Svolik knew things were about to get serious as he saw Kagu’s familiars getting ready to attack him. Kagu swung one of his axes at Svolik, sending a large wave of red fire at him. At that time all four fire hounds darted at Svolik, growling and barking at their prey. Svolik dodged the fire blast and began running from the dogs. He jumped into a tree and began running through the forest by jumping from branch to branch. The hounds also jumped into the trees and began traveling by branch which came to surprise Svolik. Svolik continued to run from the hounds, knowing that if they were to catch him that he would be torn to pieces.

Before Svolik could react, Kagu ran out in front of him and grabbed him by the neck. Svolik flailed like a fish and aimed his artifact at Kagu’s face. Before Svolik could let off the shot Kagu roughly threw Svolik to the forest floor. “Get him,” Kagu commanded.

The hounds happily jumped down to the ground and ran after Svolik. Kagu followed after his dogs. Svolik quickly shot multiple blasts at the hounds to keep a distance from him. “You need to step down or else!” Svolik screamed.

“Make me,” Kagu calmly replied as he walked towards Svolik with his axes out.

Svolik aimed his artifact at Kagu and began charging up another attack. This time it was different, it took longer than the usual blast. White particles began being absorbed into the cylinder, and the white energy became much brighter than normal. A faint whistling noise sounded off and increased in pitch and volume as the light got brighter. Svolik winced in pain as the attack he was forming began eating a portion of his life energy. “Die Kagu,” Svolik said as he shot the beam.

A massive white beam far larger than the normal blasts he had been shooting blasted out of the cylinder. The white light was so bright that it made the environment look like daytime. Kagu swung his axes at the blast, but this time the beam was too strong. It smashed into Kagu with full force, sending his axes flying into the air. Quickly Kagu got knocked off of his feet and flew back smashing into a multitude of trees.

Svolik dropped to his knees in pain for the attack he just formed was so lethal that it required a portion of his own life to perform.

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Koden and Rem arrived at the center of the city and couldn't believe what he saw with his own eyes. Every building surrounding him was covered in flames, the only people he saw were the mangled corpses sprawled over the streets. There wasn't a living person in sight. All around him he heard the faint screams of terror in the distance. Koden knew he had little time to find his troops to fight off whoever was infiltrating the Atomo Clan. “Rem follow the screams, we have to help them,” Koden ordered while sitting on Rem’s back.

Rem quickly zoned in on a group of screams he heard in the distance and started running towards it. Koden arrived at the center of the town with hopes of finding survivors, but instead he is surrounded with casualties which began to concern him. Koden and Rem rounded a corner and saw a group of Atomo citizens running from Tokanoba soldiers. Koden’s eyes widened, and his mouth dropped in shock. Anger began coursing through his body, and a surge of adrenaline pumped through his veins. A Tokanoba soldier caught up to an Atomo woman that was fleeing in the group and mercilessly stabbed her in the back with a barbed spear. She screamed in pain only for a moment until her life faded away. Koden sickened by what he saw lept into action with deep hatred running through him. “You traitors!” Koden yelled as he lept off Rem and flung himself towards the Tokanoba men with his axes drawn.

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“Stand down!” one of the soldiers commanded.

Koden swung his axes down at the group of soldiers and released two separate waves of gravity at them. Some soldiers dodged the attack, but some were not quick enough. As the fast-moving waves met the soldier's steel scale armor, the gravity pulse began shredding everything in its path. As it shredded through their armor, it began tearing away at their flesh. The soldiers affected screamed in agony as the waves shredded the rest of their body leaving behind hundreds of small chunks of flesh and a cloud of blood.

Koden landed on his feet and ran towards a soldier that survived the initial attack. The soldier began running at Koden wielding a bloody saber. Koden swung one of his axes at him with ease. The soldier countered his attack by blocking the blow with his sword. Koden used this as an opportunity to swing his other axe at him while his weapon was preoccupied. The second axe quickly cut through the air, only this time Koden wasn't using the blade of the axe but instead he was using the pike. The pike easily stabbed through the scale armor and sunk deep into the soldier's upper chest on the right side. The soldier grunted loudly as Koden roughly jerked him to the ground by the pike. As the soldier fell to the ground, Koden utilized the other axe that was previously occupying his opponent's sword and gave a finishing blow to the soldier's head. Blood and bits of skull and brain splattered out of the instantly fatal wound.

Koden turned around to see two other Tokanoba soldiers charging at him. Koden shot a gravity burst at them with a swing of one of his axes. One soldier skillfully dodged the blast, but the other got directly hit, shredding him alive. The surviving soldier jumped at Koden wielding a spear darting straight for his chest. Koden knocked the spear upward with a blow from his axe and used the other axes head to hook around the pole of the spear. Koden yanked the spear to his right and swung his other axe from his left. Using the pike end yet again, it viciously impaled through the soldier's helmet and dug deep into his skull. His body went limp, and like a rag doll, he fell to the ground. To protect Koden from further attacks Rem stepped into maul the rest of the soldiers to death. The entire group that was once chasing the Atomo people were now dead.

“Rem where is everyone? Can you smell them?” Koden said to his companion with his axes still out.

Rem quickly sniffed through the air and gave a deep yip. Koden ran over to Rem and climbed onto his back. Rem began running towards the scent he had picked up. Koden knew that Rem would be accurate with his assumptions, but he was worried about whether or not the people he smelled were alive or not.

Rem and Koden ran through an underpass below a wide bridge made of the Atomo’s signature gray stone. Upon completely passing through the underpass Rem stopped at a pile of slain Atomo citizens. Koden jumped off of Rem’s back and sprinted over to the pile of corpses. He scanned through the bodies nudging them to see if there were any survivors. Underneath of the pile was a pool of blood spreading out from the mound. Coming out of the puddle of blood was a multitude of bloody trails from where the soldiers drug the corpses to the pile after killing them. Koden gave up looking for any living citizens and looked around the area. He knew that a group was just here because the bodies were fresh. Koden felt an eerie feeling as if someone was watching him. It was a feeling he had become very familiar with over the years especially during his recent trial. He drew his axes from the sheath attached to his back and continued looking around.

Without warning a barrage of steel arrows shot from a distance and smashed into the side of Rem. Instead of the arrows penetrating his skin as they would with any average human, they shattered into thousands of splinters and ricocheted off of Rem’s thick iron-like skin. Koden looked to the direction that the arrows came from and saw a group of soldiers dunking their heads down behind a ledge on top of a building in the distance. Koden now infuriated by them targeting his companion launched a shower of gravity needles at the building with a strong swing of one of his axes. The needles began to easily shred away at the building that was harboring the insurgents. In a matter of seconds, the overbearing amount of gravity needles chipped away at the structural soundness of the building, sending its remains crumbling to the ground. Screams of the soldiers sounded out as they plummeted to the ground surrounded by massive chunks of debris and dust.

Koden began running over to the fallen soldiers to finish them off until he saw something in both corners of his eyes. He came to a halting stop and looked to his sides to see dozens of soldiers that have now surrounded him, armed to the teeth. Koden angrily looked at the soldiers with a face of revulsion and hate, his face now spotted with blood from his previous battles. “That's the Wardog’s son! Kill him now!” a Tokanoba soldier that looked to be a captain commanded, pointing at Koden.

Upon the order, all soldiers ran at Koden and Rem. Koden braced himself and looked for the best place to start. His eyes quickly shifted back and forth, analyzing the different kinds of soldiers he was dealing with. The majority of the soldiers consisted of basic Tokanoba troops wielding one-handed sabers and smaller torso sized steel shields, all wearing steel scale armor. In addition to the Tokanoba soldiers was a handful of warriors from the Jasmine Empire. Some Jasmine soldiers wore gold-laced steel armor with opulent weapons embedded with assortments of gems, the others wore ragged steel armor spotted with rust and bearing blemished swords. On the necks of the more homely Jasmine soldiers were steel bands, tautly secured by a large clasp. In the center of the band was a lackluster gem that resembled an opal the size of a Noval. Koden also witnessed an even smaller group of soldiers that belonged to the Natoya Clan. They wore very similar armor to the Tokanoba soldiers except theirs had more of a brown tint, their weapons were also very similar.

As the multiple soldiers closed in on them, Koden’s body began glowing with silver nimora. He ran towards the charging soldiers ready to engage them with his axes. The fearlessness of Koden visually concerned the soldiers. Koden swung one of his axe at the closest body to him, which happened to be a Tokanoba soldier. The Tokanoba man blocked the powerful blow with his steel shield and countered with a slash from his sword. Koden spun his body around, rolling his back off of the man's shield. As Koden successfully dodged the attack, he aggressively stabbed the pike on the back of one of his axes through the back of the soldier's skull.

As the slain soldier fell to the ground, Koden was met by a Natoya soldier and a homely Jasmine soldier. The Natoya soldier came at him full force with a massive swing of his saber. The Jasmine man thrust his chipped one edged blade at Koden with the intention to stab him near the stomach region. Koden snarled at them and hooked both his axes around each of their weapons. He tugged both of them to the sides of him sending the soldiers off balance. Two more soldiers approached the back of Koden and swung their blades down at him. Before the blades met Koden’s back Rem stepped in and clamped down on both of the ambushing soldiers with his powerful jaws. As his teeth sunk into their torsos, they both screamed in agony. Rem then raised his head and began whipping back and forth, mangling the bodies even further. After that Rem flung the bodies at another wave of soldiers trying to approach Koden. The mangled bodies smashed into the charging soldiers and knocked most of them on the ground. Rem then ran over to the group to attack them while they are down.

As Koden had both of the soldier's weapons controlled his left arm thickened with more silver nimora. Koden quickly focused on the man to his left and sent him flying into the air by reversing the pull of gravity. He let out a terrified yell as he was shot hundreds of feet into the air. As the man reached deathly altitudes, Koden let go of his control of the man's gravity, setting everything back to normal. The soldier began plummeting to the ground as the normal pull of gravity took back ahold of him. He quickly fell onto a one-story home nearby killing him on impact.

The man on the right of Koden frantically tried to dislodge his weapon. Koden now had his other axe free to utilize, so he swung it down onto the rusty sword. Upon impact, the blade of the saber shattered into dozens of pieces. The Jasmine soldier now in great fear tried to run away from Koden now that he had been unarmed. Koden pointed one of his axes at the fleeing man and quickly formed a small Shredder-star. As it completely manifested Koden shot it at the man's head with great velocity. The star rapidly shredded the man's upper body sending a mist of blood into the air.

While staying close to Koden Rem participated in the battle. Large groups of soldiers ran at Rem, knowing that the only way to take the beast on was to fight him as a pack. The various soldiers swung their blades at Rem with great force. Rem, unfazed by the attacks quickly snapped down on three soldiers with his massive mouth. The soldiers screamed in crippling pain as their bodies began to steam. Quickly after that, the soldiers trapped inside Rem’s mouth began bubbling at their skin as if they were being boiled from the inside. The bubbles got bigger and shifted around their bodies. Suddenly the soldiers exploded into a burst of human remains. The surviving soldiers that just witnessed the incident stopped in their tracks and began backing away from the fox. Rem looked at the group of soldiers and opened his mouth, releasing a burst of translucent energy that warped the air similar to fumes. As the burst gained distance, it got wider and more spread out. Rem’s attack met the fleeing soldiers and instantly began boiling their skin off of their bodies. They let out blood-curdling screams as they fell to the ground. The tip of Rem’s fangs glowed bright orange and fresh blood soaked his chin and the fur around his mouth. He snarled angrily, showing his pearly teeth, and leaped at more soldiers.

As Koden continued his carnage, he saw in the corner of his eye a man charging him. Koden shifted his eyes over to the man and saw a tall, stocky soldier running at him. He wore Tokanoba garb and had large steel gauntlets on his hands. The gauntlets were bloodied from previous encounters and were glowing with a yellow nimora. The man cocked his fist back and sprung it forward with great velocity at Koden. Koden knew that this man was a body tapper by how he was conducting himself. Koden leaped out of the way as the man smashed his fist into the ground, creating a massive crater in the ground along with a loud boom. Koden swung his axe at the man and shot a wave of gravity at him. The man narrowly dodged the attack and once again lunged at Koden with his fist back. Koden pressed his right arm out while still wielding his axe and it began glowing a dark purple nimora. Koden then dispersed an energy shield from his axe that was big enough to block the attack. The man crashed down onto the shield with his massive fist, but he wasn't strong enough to break through. Koden swung his axe up at the man and hit him in the chest with the blade. The man's chestplate dented deep into his ribs and caused great amounts of discomfort. The man responded with another swing, but Koden delivered a downwards swing of his axes pike to the man's head. Immediately he went limp and fell to the ground. “That's enough!” Koden growled as he pointed his axe at his opponents.

Quickly Lana poured out of Koden’s chest with a mighty roar and began helping Rem maul the soldiers. Shortly after Lana was released a mass amount of purple glowing tentacles began pouring out of Koden’s chest. Eventually, a massive blob poured out and took the form of a colossal jellyfish made of purple nimora. “Hawlee help Lana!” Koden ordered his second familiar.

Hawlee swung her massive tentacles at the crowd of soldiers and smashed them into the ground with a deathly shock. Koden ran over to the pieces of sword he had shattered when fighting the Jasmine slave and rose them up into the air using gravity. The pieces began rapidly spinning in place with greater speeds as the time passed. The once jagged pieces began glowing a molten orange and became malleable enough to form into thin spikes. A pulse of purple nimora pulsed from Koden’s hand and passed by the dozens of red hot needles. With an ear piercing crack the needles bolted at the charging soldiers. With lightning speed, the scorching needles easily penetrated their armor and without resistance sliced through them, continuing their seemingly unstoppable rampage. They sporadically began changing their direction to more effectively kill more soldiers.

As the body of soldiers began thinning a Tokanoba troop to the rear of the group pulled out a hollowed horn from underneath his sash. He pressed the pointed end to his lips and gave a heavy blow. With a great roar, the horn sounded off, echoing through the city streets. Koden was all too familiar with this notorious Tokanoba tactic, it was a call for recruits. He knew that he only had a matter of time before things got a lot worse.

Koden, Rem, and his fearless familiars pressed on. The stench of death began filling the city air, a smell so familiar to Koden yet so foreign to be within the Atomo walls. A wave of reassurance flowed over Koden as he saw the soldiers dwindle. If the recruits they had called were anything compared to what he had fought, they would have no trouble at all exterminating them. As Koden continued slaying the soldiers he grew confused as to why there were so many mortal troops, typically wars and raids are combatted using solely tappers. Mortals are normally mere accessories or support when used in battle. With some thought, Koden came to the realization that these mortal soldiers were simply there to kill the other mortals of the city. The slaying of the mortal farmers, shopkeepers, women, and even children were the only duties these soldiers had. Why waste skilled tappers when a sword-wielding potter could kill unarmed citizens almost just as efficiently?

Minutes have passed, and Koden saw from the corner of his eyes a large group of soldiers charging at him from down the street. The group was slightly smaller than the one Koden had been facing, but these troops looked different. Their weapons were all different from one another, and their armors were all unique with the exception of their respective nations emblem. Koden’s stomach dropped, adrenaline began coursing further into his veins. He knew the group consisted of tappers, not the tappers he had been fighting but tappers that are equivalent to his caliber, if not more. Koden grew unsure about the battle, whether or not he should stay and fight or flee. What would that make me? A coward?

Multiple men of the relieving group stayed behind and began firing various blasts and Koden and his companions, they were mind tappers. Koden successfully avoided the lightning, fire, and energy blasts but became increasingly more difficult when the skilled tappers zoned in on him. Koden knew he only had seconds to act. A tapper closed in on him and swung a heavily spiked sword at him, Koden easily dodged the blow but as soon as the sword passed him the black shot out rock spikes at him. Koden frantically flung himself out of the way, only to be met by another tapper pressing his ice-encrusted fist towards him. Koden desperately tried to miss the blow, but he was set too far of balance from him dodging the sword prior. Because of that, the soldier struck Koden on his left shoulder exploding with ice. The entire left part of Koden’s upper torso became covered in ice. Koden fled from the soldier as he was preparing to strike him yet again. He glanced over to see his familiars and Rem beginning to struggle. He knew what he had to do, the tappers were quickly closing in, and he was about to be killed like the rest of his city. “Rem come! We must go!”

Rem darted over to Koden, trampling over several soldiers. Koden jumped onto Rem with only the assistance of his right arm. “Lana! Hawlee! Burn out!” Koden commanded his familiars as Rem jumped away with great speed. Lana and Hawlee began rapidly glowing more with nimora. As the glow became impossible to look at they both exploded into a massive blast of gravity and electricity, killing many of the soldiers and injuring even more. The battle was lost, and the discord continued. Koden looked back to his burning home city, riddled with screams. He had no clue how bad this actually was. He didn't know where to go, all he knew is that he couldn't remain at the Atomo Clan. Koden gritted his teeth with anger as Rem swiftly jumped over the Atomo walls and disappeared into the Cold Crown Forest.