“Yeah. But seriously thought I was done for when he kept strangling me”

“S-should we go after him?”

“Nah, he won. He is a shitty dad. But a pretty good brawler. If it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be as good of a fighter I am today. I guess there is some good in domestic violence” winced Mikhail.  

“Heh. I guess it’s best to look at the bright side in everything” said Bold sarcastically.

“Yeah. But it’s not like there isn’t something worth celebrating”

Mikhail dug his bag and pulled out the manal figure.

“W-wait. The hell! What is that doing in your bag?” exclaimed Bold.

“I snatched it when I headbutted him. The bastard is bulky as a buck. But not as aware as a meditator”

“Dude. Haha. You’re crazy”

With happiness Bold slapped his shoulders and laughed out loud. Mikhail pulled himself up and patted the dusts off his clothes.

“Be careful tho. If he knows I snatched this from him, he might just ran back towards us for revenge”

“Yeah. If that’s the case, we’re-”

But a thought crossed Bold’s mind important enough to cut off his sentence.

“Wait. Didn’t your father just ran away on foot? Instead of transforming to his ‘natural beast or whatever’ form?”

“Dunno, was dying for air so I didn’t notice”

“Maybe he did run out of mana. Should have tried to get distance from us as fast as possible if he really wanted us to not follow him”.

“That could be true. He was spamming a lot of strong spells”

Mikhail got up to his feet and walked slowly.

“If that is the case then there is no fear even if he did return to hunt us, afterall”

Mikhail gave Bold a wide smile and slapped him on the shoulder.

“The two of us against him alone”

“Yeah. So long as I don’t get impaled by that spear again“

The two of them got up and silently walked along the slope. Still cautious and aware of their surroundings, they marched.

**************

“Put her down” ordered Serena. 

“Who are you?” asked Kenji with a cold tone. 

Serena pulled out her sword. Kenji’s eyes narrowed and did as he was told.

“Beat it, bastard. Or I’ll tear you into pieces”.

Kenji walked away from Gabi only to swiftly bring out his two sais and charged at her. Serena quickly slashed and stabbed but Kenji brilliantly blocked each blow. She attempted to stab him from above but Kenji clamped the sword between both of his sais and her sword stopped right before entering into his eyes. The twin sais glittered with red light.

With a yell, Kenji twisted his sais and with a clang Serena’s sword was snapped into three pieces and she retreated back. Quickly typing on her wristboard she summoned a gigantic phoenix behind herself. But Kenji grabbed hold of Gabi and brought her up as a defensive shield.

“One move and the girl is dead”

“Nice try. But I’m not falling for that. PHOENIX DAWN”

She stretched her hand and the phoenix charged towards them.

“Divine containment” yelled Kenji when the fires were at his face.

The phoenix burned and destroyed everything in its path. All that was left afterwards were black mutts and burnt walls. But strangely Kenji was still standing with Gabi in his hands unhurt, untouched. A gigantic purple orb contained both Kenji and Gabi within itself.

“You’re crazy” yelled Kenji.

“I’m practical”

Serena’s fingers danced on the wristboard and her two trusty guns appeared in her hand and she fired. Gabi’s small body was not spacious enough to shield Kenji. But the bullets landed on the purple orb and disappeared. The time limit of his defensive orb was closing in. After inputting the codes Kenji quickly turned into a crow and flew into the air. The purple orb, now minimized but still protecting him.

When he flew over the buildings and was no longer visible Serena approached Gabi and kicked her gently in the cheek while looking around to see if Kenji was planning to counter attack. Gabi made no movement, completely unconscious. She looked carefully around her surroundings for a few moments. It could just be that she was too cautious. But one could never be too sure. She wasn’t the one to make amateur mistakes. But seeing as how no bird chirped and nothing around her moved she finally took a deep breath and grabbed hold of Gabi and put her on her back. She took a few steps until she heard something above the buildings.

“Flying”

Indeed, her instincts did not lie. Three orbs bulleted towards them and slammed into them. Serene flew away so it only hit Gabi. However, the blast was enough of a force to make her crash into the doorsteps of a house and open her eyes.