Ki was drenched in sweat, gasping for air. "Good… now rest," a voice echoed from the forest.
He looked up. Kenji stood there, calm and composed. "And you… you can sense where I am even when I hide. Well done," he said, complimenting Ki.
Inside, Kenji's thoughts were a storm of disbelief. Terrifying… the kid's learning speed. Unbelievably fast.
Ki flopped onto a log, gulping down water. He picked up a stick and poked at the fire in front of him, staring into the flames. "Destruction," he murmured.
Kenji's voice was sharp, almost playful. "Destruction… easy to do, hard to fix. Yeah, you better avoid that if you don't want attention."
Kenji studied Ki, noticing the sweat and exhaustion. His mind drifted. It took me a year to learn stealth… he's done it in a week. What a terrifying kid. Will he bring destruction… or salvation? Am I a catalyst to doom, or a bridge to hope?
He exhaled, more to himself than to Ki. "Kid… not everything a mouth says is true. Some things are lies, some exaggerated."
Ki froze, wide-eyed, as if he had seen a ghost. Kenji's chest tightened. This kid… he's figured something out, hasn't he?
Kenji turned his back to Ki. "Start training," he ordered, walking away.
As he vanished into the forest, a low, almost sinister laugh escaped him. "King Richard… your end is near…"
Ki sat on the log, drenched in sweat, staring into the dying embers of the fire. Kenji stood across from him, murmuring under his breath, lost in thought as always. One moment he seemed relaxed, the next serious, and then muttering something that Ki couldn't catch.
"Kenji… just who are you?" Ki whispered to himself. "You're a summon… that's for sure."
His mind wandered back to the King's story. Summons, mass production, training since the peace contract… but something felt off. His gaze fell on the fire. "Destruction…" he murmured.
Kenji's voice broke the silence. "Destruction. Easy to start… hard to fix. Stay away from it if you don't want attention."
Ki glanced at him. Kenji was already lost in his own thoughts.
"Something's not adding up," Ki muttered. "Why would the kingdoms suddenly stop summoning? Why would they all just… agree? It's not like one kingdom developed a sense of justice and suddenly all the others followed. They could have just kept the peace and kept producing summons. Why ban such powerful weapons?"
Kenji finally looked up, his expression unreadable. "Not everything you hear is true. Some of it's lies… some exaggerated."
Ki froze. Piece by piece, it clicked. The King's words, Septh's reactions, the books she'd read… everything lined up. The ban on summons wasn't general. It wasn't a universal act of morality. It was targeted. One kingdom's control, one kingdom's agenda… and he and his friends were caught in the middle.