I stood in the middle of the room, covered in red-orange flames and blood dripping from the injury on my forehead, my ember eyes glowing, and my hair which looked like liquid fire, bodies were around me, the people who were all knocked out by me as they had done their ninja stuff to get out of here, and Kage in front of me, standing there and starting to form a stance, It felt like he was scared about what will happen next, I looked around, and noticed the face-mask girl who was hiding, her face filled with shock, then I smirked, and said to Kage, "Let's make this quick, I have classes".
"FIREBALL", I exclaimed, as I pointed my fingers to Kage, and a sphere of fire was formed in front of my finger, and flew to Kage, he quickly moved from the way, as my attack hit the door which was behind him and left black soot on it, then he started running around, then I said, "BARRAGE", then multiple fireballs formed around me, and started flying everywhere, causing mini-explosions inside this large room.
As smoke filled the air, it became clear what was about to happen. I recalled a new technique I had learned from Cosmo recently. Although I wasn't skilled with a sword, my basic training gave me some confidence. I formed two fire swords, one for each hand, and focused intently. Having mastered the Ignite technique, I fused my P.E. energy with my elemental skills.
Golden energy encased the swords, creating a striking combination of red and gold that gleamed even through the smoke. I activated the P.E. skill GAMMA EYES, allowing me to see through the haze. There, I spotted Kage, preparing to execute his next move.
Remembering Cosmo's advice, I knew I had to channel all my strength into a powerful slash. I turned and unleashed the full force of my P.E. energy from my weapons, releasing a large, sweeping slash. The force cut through the smoke, dispersing it and restoring clarity to my surroundings.
In that moment, I realized I had successfully executed the technique: P.E. SLASH. It felt exhilarating—this was it, the technique that could turn the tide.
I soon realized that Kage was nowhere in sight, and it seemed my previous attack had missed him completely. As I scanned the surroundings, I noticed a swarm of small figures moving across the ground. Wait—those weren't just things; they were miniature versions of Kage, and there were countless of them, surrounding me. How could he do that? Regardless, I dismissed the thought as a foolish oversight.
Raising my leg, I stomped the ground with force. Flames erupted from my feet, spreading rapidly and engulfing all the tiny Kages. However, from the inferno, several of them leaped out, launching an assault on me. One managed to punch me, and I instinctively raised my hand to block it. To my surprise, the weight behind that small punch felt just as powerful as that of the full-sized Kage. How was that possible?
The miniature Kage quickly scrambled onto my hand, using it as leverage to reach my body. Others followed suit, biting and punching me in an increasingly annoying frenzy. Frustrated, I grabbed two of them—one in each hand—and crushed them effortlessly, turning them into wisps of smoke. I then swung my arms, sending several of them flying, before unleashing a fireball that consumed the remaining attackers, reducing them to smoke as well.
As I watched the flames swirl around me, an idea struck me. I concentrated on the heat emanating from the ground, intensifying it until the tiles beneath me turned pitch black. I then condensed the fiery energy into a single, massive ball of flames, which I dropped to the ground. The resulting explosion was catastrophic, creating a shockwave that radiated outward, spanning an impressive 200 meters.
I stood there, unfazed and my clothes were still alright, it seems it was also fire resistant, but it seems Kage's clothes weren't, I smirked as Kage knelt on the ground, some part of his clothes gone, and burnt marks covering his body. The area around us was engulfed in darkness from the explosion, and the lingering smell of smoke filled the air. It seemed he had reverted back to his normal form to block the assault, but something felt off—he looked shorter than usual.
I asked him, "So, ready to give up now?" Kage looked up at me, his expression earnest as he replied, "Yes, I do. Please forgive me." It seemed like he finally understood, and I felt there was no need to continue the fight. I had beaten him enough for now.
My injury had started to stop bleeding, but I knew I needed to get it checked at a clinic—if there was one nearby. Just then, I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned to see Aqua standing there. How did she get in? I glanced behind her and noticed a door I hadn't seen before. There was a way out after all. Damn it!
She walked up to me with a shocked voice and said, "Blaze, what the hell happened here?" I then proceeded to explain all the events that led up to this moment. After I was done, she sighed and said, "So it already happened, huh?" She eyed Kage and added, "Blaze, you did a good job defeating him. This will further the fame of our sect." I smiled at her compliment, but something felt off. Aqua seemed smaller than usual.
Suddenly, I felt piercing sensations in different parts of my body. I looked down and realized what had pierced me were pins. I turned to Aqua, who was smiling and said, "Got you." It dawned on me too late what was happening. I wobbled, my vision became hazy, and I fell flat to the ground, unable to move. Was this poison from needles like I had seen in the movies? It certainly didn't feel nice. My flames, which had surrounded me, were extinguished.
I managed to glance at Aqua as she walked up to Kage, who had stood up. They both held hands, and then Aqua turned into smoke, surrounding Kage. The smoke dissipated, and I noticed that Kage was now taller than he had been just a minute ago.
Kage who had burnt marks on his body but didn't care, looked at my paralyzed body sighed and said, "Man you are very tough, but I guess I was stronger", what is the mf saying he just tricked me again, then he continued saying, "Blaze you are strong, but why do you bother fighting against our Sect, why don't you join ours, just so you know, there are other guys who are far stronger than me, plus our sect leader, did you really think you could defeat us, so just forfeit, and I will speak good about you to our sect leader, and he may let you join us".
I mustered all my strength and declared, "I may not know about them, but I do know about defeating you. You're nothing more than a false and corrupt martial artist, a charlatan who tricks people and claims victory in every fight you engage in." I could see Kage's vein twitch at my words; it was clear I had struck a nerve, and that felt oddly satisfying.
With a sinister smile, he replied, "It seems you don't understand the situation we're in. We're not on the same page, which means I'll have to drag you there by force." As if on cue, figures began to emerge from the shadows—more MAEs. What the hell? Were they like flies, buzzing around with relentless persistence? They had been beaten before, but somehow, they still managed to move, while I was frozen in place.
Kage commanded, "Get him!" and the MAEs charged toward me. Panic surged through me; I was in deep trouble. Just then, someone stepped in front of me—it was the girl in the face mask. She looked at me with a calm smile, but her expression quickly turned cold as she said, "Cover your ears as hard as you can."
Though I was still struggling against the paralyzing poison coursing through my veins, driven by instinct, I pressed my hands tightly against my ears, bracing myself for whatever was about to happen.
Then one of the MAE's who were rushing towards us said, "Hey, who are you, get out of the way, or unless you want to get wrecked"
She removed her face mask, unveiling her mouth and soft pink lips.
"I may not be able to fulfill your request," she said, "but I can answer your question."
The group halted, and one of them exclaimed, "Huh?"
She continued with fervor, "I am Elara Wraithsong, wielder of the P.E. cursed tongue!" Then she opened her mouth.
What was truly shocking wasn't just her open mouth; it was her tongue. It was yellow in color and bore a black X mark.
One of the MAEs snickered and said, "Are you crazy or something? No one asked. Do you really want to get beaten up?"
Elara retorted, "What confident words coming from someone who had their ass handed to them by someone who was beaten by their boss."
I didn't catch exactly what she said afterward, but judging by the way the MAEs were looking, it was probably pretty insulting.
Kage's reaction was the most interesting—he had a face full of shock.
Then Kage said with urgency, "Guys, stop! Listen to me first, she is..." He couldn't finish as the MAEs, filled with rage, ran towards us. Elara inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and then opened her mouth to scream. Her scream was incredibly loud—so loud that I could hear it even with my hands covering my ears. I quickly surrounded my ears with P.E. energy to prevent them from bleeding. The force of her scream was powerful enough to knock back all the MAEs. They collapsed to the floor, blood pouring out of their ears and eyes, which had no eyeballs in them.
I lowered my hands and looked at Elara with a shocked expression. She had knocked them out with a single scream. Wow, I'm so glad I chose her first for recruitment. Elara then said, "Hmm, it seems someone reacted quickly." I looked in the direction she was indicating and saw Kage standing there, sweating and breathing heavily. He had his hands on his ears, and blood was coming from his mouth, which was turning his white keikogi red in some spots. Elara then said, "He bit his tongue to avoid being knocked out by my scream." Wow, such determination.
Then Kage removed his hands from his ears, and panted, then said, "Don't tell me it is you, of all the people I should run into, it just had to be you, the mysterious legend 'GHOST WRAITH' ".
Huh, I looked at her with a confused expression and managed to say, "Ghost... Wraith." Elara's face instantly turned red like a tomato. I wanted to tell her that her nickname sounded awesome, but she quickly interrupted, saying, "That's just a dumb name they gave me. Anyone who messes with me gets knocked out and doesn't remember what happened. But that's a story for another day — my target is running away."
I followed her gaze and saw Kage heading toward the door. She ran after him, but it was obvious she wouldn't catch him. Instead of worrying, I smiled. With my body still on the floor and my hands free, I clenched them and, using the last of my P.E. energy, I whispered, "IGNITE."
Suddenly, hand marks appeared on Kage's body, glowing red. He and Elara both froze in shock as the marks erupted in several small explosions. The blasts tore into Kage's body, leaving him severely burnt with smoke billowing from the affected parts. He collapsed to the ground, utterly incapacitated.
Elara turned back to me, her face a mask of shock, and said, "I'll ask you about this later," before rushing back toward her target.
Kage looked up to see the standing figure in front of him, and he noticed it was The Ghost Wraith, looking down at him and smiling at him, then a sharp pain hit him, and he squinted his eyes in response to it, then she said in a caring voice, "Oh, my that must really hurt", Kage, who was on the ground gritted his teeth, trying to endure the pain.
"I can't do anything right now, and since I'm not healed yet, it seems it was one of those bad days, damn it, guess I have to ask for help", Kage thought.
Kage coughed and tried to look pitiful, even though he already is like me right now, and said, "I'm sorry, please don't beat me, I sincerely have learnt my lesson, I won't mess with you or the sad looking red-hair guy that is beaten over there, please forgive me".
Ha, that got to be an apology that comes from his village, did he have to describe me like that, you know my name.
Elara smiled, and said, "Don't worry, I will make all of your pain go away", then she licked her lips and came closer to Kage.
Kage shuddered, and started to protest saying, "No, don't, Sto...", "Shh, it won't hurt", she interrupted calmly, then knelt down and hugged Kage's neck and leaned her face near his ear with her mouth open, shockingly, Kage's eyes turned white, and he fainted on her, then she put him down on the ground and put her hand in her pocket, and removed her face-mask, and sighed, then walked towards me.
She stood in front of me, a smile on her face. "Well, that was one hell of a situation, but we managed to get out of it okay."
Do I look okay to you?
I replied, "So, are you joining my sect, or not?"
Her face flickered with shock, then she snickered. "Haha, you're very funny. You're still thinking about that, while you're lying on the floor like a ragdoll."
"Wrong, I wasn't beaten— I was poisoned," I corrected her.
"Whatever, same difference. But I'll join—though only temporarily."
"Of course. Welcome to my sect," I said with a smile.
I suddenly noticed my vision blurring. I grimaced and said, "Uh, isn't my injuries supposed to be healing?"
Elara looked at me, placing her hand on her face and sighing. "Blaze, it seems today is a bad day."
"What's a bad day?" I asked, confusion evident in my voice.
She hesitated before answering. "It's a day when Cosmo doesn't heal anyone."
"What, but that isn't possible, because when we were coming here, people were being healed, if I remember" I replied with disbelief
"Well, he can remove his protection, anytime in a bad day"
I sank deep into thought. So, you're telling me that he removed it during the time we were ambushed? But it seemed like the MAEs were being healed—only after I used my powers did they stop being healed. Are you saying he removed his protection because I used my abilities? What was I supposed to do? I have powers—why can't I use them? Damn him, bastard. Fuck you, Cosmo.
Then, unexpectedly, I heard a voice in my head that sounded like Cosmo's. It said, "So, you are insulting me now? Don't worry, when you come back, you're cooked."
How is this possible? Isn't his power space-based? I reacted quickly, thinking, "Cosmo, I was joking! I didn't mean what I said. Cosmo, Cosmo! COSMO!!!", But he did not answer me. Oh no, I think I'm finished. I should just run away.
My eyes started to become heavy and the world around me started to turn black, I then managed to say
"Elara"
"Yes" she replied
"I'm about to faint"
"Okay... wait, what, hey you better hold on"
"My first order is that you carry me to the sick bay if there is one, please", I finally closed my eyes admits all the shouting from Elara to stay awake and blacked out.
Elara sighed and said, "Now, what am I going to do with this boy? This is so not funny. I can't carry him with me; he's too heavy. Today is so annoying. Well, I guess I have to find a way." As a new sect member, she huffed and prepared to carry Blaze's body in her arms, struggling not to fall along the way. She passed the knocked-out Kage and his men and then left the room.