03 The Dragon's Day Out

Yorokobi amassed copious raiki and invoked his most powerful fire defense. ~Fui-kitsu cloudburst!~ Crack! A thunder crack sounded, and a downpour of rain flooded the field for a few seconds. Roar! Crash! The fire beast leaped threateningly for the last time and died in a fracas of steam and smoke. Whoosh! A layer of mist and vapor sloped into the air like a tornado. Yorokobi spied his adversary. The stranger still stood in the same position, unmoving. 'Is he as strong as a Kin-lord?' 'Who is he, really?' 'No matter. It will be over soon.' Yorokobi's confidence rested on his backup plan. Karasuma warriors were excellent assassins. A silhouette emerged from the forest shadows and perched on the foliage above the stranger. He was the guard who had run off into the woods at the beginning of the battle. Crunch! Swish! He dived off a branch headlong. A dagger was pointed at the back of his target. Yorokobi bit his lip in anticipation. The stranger did not show any signs of discovering the assassin. But he moved for a second. 'Was it a flicker?' 'Or was it too fast for his eyes to see?' Plock-plop! The next moment, the assassin guard fell behind the stranger- his body cleaved into two. He had never reached his target. The stranger had swung his ax in a split second and returned to his position. The assassin never had a chance. 'How is that physically possible?!' Yorokobi clenched his teeth and uttered a growl of anguish. The layer of mist and foam descended from the sky. The terrorized Captain searched for his opponent. Through the translucent cloud of vapor, he could see a pair of glowing eyes. And without a doubt, they were chrome-yellow. 'An Ishigami? Impossible!' Yorokobi, panicking, eyed his surroundings. The mercenaries had fled and were trying to unlock the ship. The Captain had to keep the stranger occupied long enough for the Chief Bursar to escape. Regardless of the mortal peril he faced at the moment, the mission was paramount. He felt his raiki reserves returning and made them surge for an ultimate attack. ~Doi-kitsu storm explosion!~ She-bang! The attack hit the target and blasted a hole in the ground. As the dust settled, Yorokobi found that the stranger was nowhere in his line of sight. 'How could he dodge at such a short distance?' Everything was happening too fast for him to understand. Swing! Plop! Wallop! There were sudden thuds around him. From the corner of his eyes, he could tell that his squad members' heads had been lopped off. The Captain felt a presence behind him, and he tried to swing his sword back in an arc. But his arm wouldn't work. He looked at the ground, and horror gripped him. His arm had been chopped off like a vegetable in a splatter of blood. A weak, bitter smile spread on Yorokobi's lips. At that moment, he realized that if he delayed using his ocular powers, he would die. Crackle! The Captain's eyes flooded with pink and became rouge. Swing! Behind him, the ax came for his head but cut through only air. It missed the target completely. Furl! Yorokobi was already off the ground. The rootlets of a nearby alder tree had come to life, bound his feet, and catapulted him into the air. Chlorokinesis. Yorokobi was shot a hundred feet into the air as a projectile, far from the battlefield. As his body hurtled upwards, the sun came out from behind the clouds, and the Captain saw the stranger jump onto the ship. 'Chief Bursar Uno will not have another breakfast ever again,' was Yorokobi's last thought. The pain of his injury took over, and his rouge eyes went dark. His body dropped into the frothing rapids of the Reisui river. And disappeared.