Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 77: Anomaly

"I heard you picked a few Roses for me," Kenzo said suddenly, making Lyra cringe in disgust and Damion to throw him a weirded out gaze.

"Language," Matilda said, earning herself a confused stare from her twin. She sighed when Kenzo looked to not understand what she meant, and moved her attention back to Damion.

"I’m sure you must have heard the explosions from the mountain right," Damion said, and they all nodded in unison, their expressions turning serious. "There are traps hidden in the mountain on the way to the peak, and if one isn’t careful enough, there is a high chance of someone dying."

Lyra furrowed her brows, thinking of something. "Can those ’traps’ include Humans? Because I was attacked on my way by a student from the other group." Lyra said. "It was only thanks to Matilda that I was able to defeat him."

"That’s not surprising," Damion said. "Their own mission seems to be to defeat us, or at least stop us from getting the Wild Pink Rose."

"Makes sense," Matilda said.

"What are you guys talking about? Attacked by who?" Kenzo asked.

The trio exchanged gazes, scrunching and raising their brows.

"You weren’t attacked?"

"No."

"That’s because you’re too fast, fool!!" A voice came from behind, startling Kenzo a little as he hurriedly turned around, unsheathing his Nodachi in one smooth motion.

A boy came crashing through a bush into the small clearing, gasping for air with a hand over his chest. He raised a finger up, telling Kenzo to hold for a second while he caught his breath. Then after seemingly calming his raging heart, he raised his hands into a fighting pose, took a strong stance, and smirked.

"Come on!"

Kenzo cocked his head, staring at the boy incredulously.

The blonde haired boy was relatively short when compared to everyone there. His body was frail and fragile, with his MCU flapping with his every movement. Heck, he looked like he could be snapped into two by a strong gust of wind. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

But, the confidence he oozed made them rethink.

"You’ve been following me?" Kenzo asked after a few seconds had passed.

"Obviously, now die!" The boy roared and dashed ahead, his speed lacking and his battle intent non-existent. However, his expression suddenly changed, turning serious, too serious even, and a volatile and deadly aura poured out of him.

Kenzo noticed the change instantly, and his Stigmas appeared, his focus reaching another level. He drew his legs across the ground and leaned forward, unsheathing his sword fluidly and performing the Phantom Slash.

A thick crescent blade of Silver energy traveled forward at a fast speed, only to be effortlessly parried by the boy with his bare hands. The attack which seemed so strong was dismissed with ease, dissipating harmlessly into the air, shocking Damion and Kenzo equally.

Damion’s eyes narrowed, and he stood to his feet. His intent reached out, triggering the Blessing of Knowledge, but what he tried to achieve didn’t work as intended, he couldn’t see the boy’s info.

Kenzo’s gaze steeled, and his Nodachi snaked through the air, descending rapidly with his Silver energy condensing around it, forming another sharp layer.

The boy slowed down as he got closer to Kenzo and threw a punch, and Kenzo moved to chop the arm unhesitatingly.

The boy brazenly used his other bare hand to parry the blade, wounding himself in the process, though it seemed to be worth it in his perspective as his hand continued forward, driving into Kenzo’s guts.

The punch didn’t carry much power behind it, but the fact that he could hit Kenzo just went to show how good his skills were.

Kenzo’s blade twisted and pulled back, cutting at the boy’s neck from behind as he was too close. He pivoted on the ball of a foot and swiveled to the side, moving out of the way of another punch.

The boy ducked under the Nodachi, planted a foot firmly on the ground and kicked upwards with the other, hitting Kenzo’s swinging arm.

Damion’s eyes narrowed further. The movements were too smooth. He transitioned from attack to defence quickly and had gotten two hits in in one exchange.

Kenzo retreated, his energy rising as his eyepatch fell off. The silver light coming from his left eye glowed brighter, and he sheathed his sword.

The glow flowed into his other eye, changing its color to a bright silver with his original red eye still somehow piercing through the silver. Kenzo, just like his twin, had eyes that matched his hair color, excluding his left eye though where his power seemed to come from.

The raging energy billowed around him fiercely, granting him the look of a human burning with Silver flames.

The white energy was so fierce, it rose up a meter above him, tearing the ground beneath and twisting the space around...

And then he moved.

Kenzo looked to move faster than the eye could track, cutting the already short distance in an instant. The boy didn’t even stand a chance to defend himself as his limbs were severed from his torso, pausing dramatically, before dropping to the ground after some seconds.

The boy’s eyes widened, his breath hitching at the realization of what had occurred. His widened eyes fluttered lightly before closing shut as he passed out.

The sickening thud of his body hitting the ground echoed through the air, accompanied by the ghastly sound of blood spurting from his wounds, but everyone’s eyes were fixated on Kenzo.

Kenzo’s burning energy dissipated slowly, the glow in his eyes disappearing completely.

His back faced them, so they couldn’t see his facial expression. His face was drained of all colors, and beads of sweat rolled down his face.

Kenzo crouched and tried to catch his breath, his body feeling weak from overexertion. He rarely entered that state and spent his energy completely, but he just had to. That student was an anomaly. His battle style was dangerously fluid and strong, and if it wasn’t for his weak physical strength, he would have injured Kenzo and probably defeated him.

Matilda left Damion’s side to check on her brother, making sure he was okay. She knew how much he had lost from that fight and was concerned.

Lyra decided to take advantage of the opportunity to retrieve the Cores of the three Foxes they had killed, handing the corpses over to Damion when she was done.

While Lyra worked though, Damion watched, keeping an eye on the surroundings for any signs of new threat, and when everyone was ready, they set out again, returning to the base.