Tinta: Above All (Chapter 3): I Have To Stand Against Him

In the park, Tinta remains standing while he's holding the handle of his sword.

He stays calm but the mysterious attacker releases waves of flames from the holes in his silver armor.

The flames burn the grasses near him. He propels himself toward Tinta, and on his silver gauntlets; he channels flames on it; forming into twirling fire spheres.

"His element is fire, he can generate it and fly with it," Tinta says calmly, "I won't put my faith in gaining victory against him.

"I don't have any necessary abilities to eliminate his flames but my sword can cut through elements."

He brings out the sheath of his sword and tightens his grip on it.

"I must keep him at bay, not until the guardians arrive." Tinta inhaled deeply.

He jumps and reaches the mysterious attacker. Tinta strikes his sword at the attacker, however, the enemy holds his sword with his bare hands.

He throws Tinta aside with a punch in his face, but the young man remains standing while being pushed by the force of the punch.

Tinta inhales deeply. "I can do this–!"

He swings his sword against the incoming fireballs, unfortunately, his enemy comes toward him.

He punches Tinta's guts and launches the boy towards the sky.

In mid-air, the attacker reaches Tinta, therefore, he throws multiple punches at the young man's whole body but every punch is struck by the young man's sword.

Every civilian watching the fight is aiming their phones at Tinta; some have their eyes widened and mouths open indicating that they're shocked.

The mysterious attacker aims his

index finger at the young man's face.

"I am aware that you are judging me," Tinta remains straight, "but don't underestimate me even if I don't have any abilities, I will make you go away!"

Bright flames cover both of the attacker's gauntlets, thence, he punches him repeatedly at a fast rate

Every land of his gauntlets, all of it is continuously being countered by every swing of Tinta's sword.

He separated the sheath from his belt, and he slams it at his attacker's helm.

His enemy grabs face but a blade pierces his gauntlet and it continues to go deep into his flesh.

A grunt has been heard by Tinta, and that develops a smile on his face.

Tinta smiles slightly. "It takes one blade to bring you down!"

His helm opens, and his face can be seen by Tinta.

"You're a good fighter," the mysterious attacker says, "there are many jobs that you don't know... maybe you can be a good swordsman."

"But all of this ends today," he said, his tone is serious and brings the young man's heartbeat to accelerate.

Tinta inhales deeply. "That applies to you as well."

Tinta holds his face, and he lets go of his sword. He kicks the man's throat as he holds his sword once again, pulling it from his flesh.

Tinta stabs the man's neck and quickly pulls his sword from his enemy's throat.

"I can't move." Tinta gritted his teeth but his mouth opened on its own indicating his lack of stamina.

"Do you think that I will die?!"

The mysterious attacker flies quickly toward the falling young man.

He coats his silver gauntlet in flames and punches Tinta but a hand coated in blue flames catches his punch.

"No one will hurt my best friend!"

Those words make Tinta turn around, and his eyes widen a bit.

"Yo!" Jeremiah used his other hand to grab Tinta's hand.

Jeremiah pushes the gauntlet away from him, and he proceeds to fly down to the soil with Tinta.

"Thank you," Tinta said calmly.

Jeremiah turns toward him with a wide smile and sparkling eyes.

"I've never seen someone with that degree of sword skill!" Jeremiah jumped repeatedly while smiling.

Meanwhile, Pedro reaches the park. He witnesses a crowd of people watching an event.

Stolen story; please report.

"Excuse me! What's happening?!" Pedro walked toward the woman near him.

She replies to him with wide joyous eyes and a wide smile. "You will not believe this! Two boys are fighting against a man wearing armor!"

Her words make his eyes go wide and he begins to shake. He pushes his way toward the crowd while his breathing accelerates.

"Tinta! My grandson!" he yelled.

Inside the park, Tinta looks around him while Jeremiah stops jumping.

"Are you okay?" Jeremiah asked.

"Nothing–!" Tinta ran toward Jeremiah and pushed him aside.

He blocks his sword and sheath against the kick of the mysterious attacker.

His kick pushes Tinta towards Jeremiah, fortunately, Jeremiah catches Tinta but he falls to the ground.

The mysterious attacker surrounds him and his enemies with a tremendous ring of fire.

Tinta pushes himself from the ground until he's standing on his feet.

"I know I can't defeat him," he says in his mind, "but I must not let him cause more chaos. Wait, this feels odd."

He gently swirls his sword until he points it at the mysterious attacker.

Tinta narrows his eyes as his eyebrows meet and curve downward.

The mysterious runs toward his foes.

He releases waves of flames at them and flies above the wave. He channels his flames onto his silver gauntlets, forming a large fireball.

The large fireball flies down to the ground. In the blink of an eye, the large fireball separates in half with Tinta in its center; his eyes are fixated on the mysterious attacker.

"This is not where I will end!" Tinta shouted while menacingly staring at his enemy.

The enemy generates metal from his head; covering his entire head in the form of a helmet in the form of an eagle.

Blood sprouts from Tinta's mouth and his hands are burning yet he doesn't let go of his sword.

His eyes are turning dull as his body is slowly rotating downwards.

"This ring of fire," Tinta's hands are trembling along with his thighs, "it's draining my energy!"

The mysterious attacker coats his silver gauntlet in red bright flames.

"You gave me an exciting fight but this is where it all ends!"

He flies toward Tinta. The young man tightens his grasp upon his sword, and he straightens his posture.

Blue dual swords made of blue flames wrap around his gauntlets, and he is slammed onto the ground.

"No one will harm my best friend!"

Jeremiah yelled while standing in front of Tinta with his back facing him.

The blue flaming dual swords have been pulled from his gauntlets.

The mysterious attacker stands up but before he can stand up, the eyes of a young man filled with determination mixed with bitterness are staring at him.

"Go away, and never appear in Manila once again," Tinta orders him, "if I will catch sight of you again, I will cut your head and feed it to hungry dogs."

The ring of fire disappears, and then the mysterious attacker flies away whilst Jeremiah remains staring at him with eyes full of resentment.

Jeremiah's eyes move back to Tinta whose eyes are opening.

"Yo! You okay?" Jeremiah asked him.

Tinta raises his upper body, therefore, he lays his hand on the ground and pushes himself until he's standing on his feet.

Jeremiah blinks repeatedly. "Hey! Yo! You stand up like nothing happened! Let me take you home."

Tinta continued walking away, he didn't stop walking or yell some words leaving Jeremiah yawning.

"I don't need any help from anyone but thank you for helping me there," he said.

He has been stopped by the sight of a crowd of people watching him, and some are taking a picture of him.

He clenches his hand and shouts, "I'll break your devices if all of you won't walk away!"

"Hey! Moron!"

Those words drive his eyes in a certain direction, there, he sees Pedro standing while looking at him.

"I want to go away," Tinta walked toward him.

Later on, Tinta and Pedro are sitting on a bench near the new city hall.

Pedro glances at him. "How does it feel?"

Tinta inhales deeply and replies calmly. "It didn't feel like anything, I just drove him away, that's all."

"Liar. You felt something and that is the feeling of protecting innocent civilians of this city," Pedro told him.

The young man raises his hands and inhales deeply in his mouth and releases large breaths.

"I am not going to invest my entire life protecting people," Tinta declared.

Pedro smiles softly and chuckles while looking away from him. He slowly stops chuckling and continues to wear his smile.

"You'll eat your words," Pedro said.

He looks at Tinta who's using a phone with an interactive touch screen.

"Hey!" he snatches his phone, "I want

you to listen to me first, stinky head."

Tinta glares at him while closing his hands, and he stands up and faces him.

"Give me back my phone!" Tinta yelled at him.

"There's one thing I want to let out, I just want you to look at me and listen to every word I say," he looks aside and brushes his gray hair, "Even if we argue always, I never repent of having those arguments with you.

"Those silly senseless arguments are the moments that I feel that you truly value me as your grandfather."

Tinta rubs his forehead. "Shut up! I'm not going to say words like that!"

Pedro's cheeks puff and he releases waves of giggles while staring at him.

"But, thank you for raising me," Tinta looks straight into his eyes, "thank you for the things you've done for both of us."

He remains staring seriously at his grandfather. "So, stay alive… stay with me further until I repay you my gratitude."

Pedro stops chuckling, and then, he nods at him.

"Gosh! I didn't know you were a soft little man."

"Oh, shut up, tortoise!"

During that evening, hours have passed. Inside a room in Pedro's house, he and Tinta are standing in front of each other.

Pedro extends a white shield to Tinta. The young man blinks and looks immediately at the shield and looks back to the middle-aged man's eyes.

Tinta calmly says, "But why are you giving me this shield? It's your shield and you've been with it back when you were a kid."

"What?" Pedro rubbed his hair.

Tinta closes his eyes and his eyebrows curve downward. "It's your toy, right? Plus, I'm a grown man and I am not fit to play that kind of thing! You disgust my morality!"

Pedro sighs, and then he swings his shield to Tinta's head causing him to hold the top of his head while clenching his teeth.

"Older men also play with toys, and there's nothing wrong with it," Pedro let go of his shield, "if you don't want it then I won't force you."

Tinta moves his eyes to the shield, hence, he walks toward it. He picks it up and he can see many scratches on it.

Tinta moves his eyes to Pedro. "This shield, it wasn't what I thought it was.

"A true shield… A kite shield, not a toy."

"There's something about me that you don't know," Pedro looks straight into Tinta's eyes, "I am not the man like what you thought about me… to be honest with you, I am a former guardian."

"A guardian?" Tinta walks to the nearby wall and lays his shield on it, "I will call you an idiot if you are a guardian without any elemental abilities."

Pedro chuckles. "I didn't possess any elemental attributes during my era of being a guardian.

"Everyone laughed at me like I was a clown but I showed them my greatness in making strategy on the battlefield.

"I studied every elemental nature there is, identified its weakness, and used it every time I fought criminals who possess the elemental ability."

Tinta replies, "But our era is different now. The one that I fought, he could release intense hot winds which drained my energy during my battle.

"Tell me, how can I defeat a stronger foe like him?"

Pedro looks at his left side, there, he sees a table with a kitchen knife on it.

"Don't lose your faith in yourself too much," he walks toward the table, "what if I tell you that your technique which you've learned from me is an ancient power system?

"Forgotten by many because of the elemental abilities."

Pedro steps close to his grandson whose eyes are fixated on him.

He channels his internal force to the blade of his knife; the force spreads throughout the whole room moving everything away, away and causing Tinta to cover his eyes due to the overwhelming force.

"This pressure," he narrows his eyes, "it's like I'm in the middle of a hurricane!"

Pedro smiles widely. "I'll teach you how to properly utilize this technique, and with this technique, you'll be able to be known by many!"