An arm swooped behind him and caught his fall. He felt the hand wrap around his fist, closing tightly on the canister. “That kick before wasn’t very pleasant,” the man holding him said. “Boss, you’re back!” the soldiers yelled.

“Yea, yea and you smooth brains almost got us all killed. How did this little shit get the bomb anyway?!”

“Um…” the soldiers looked at Cindy lying unconscious on the ground, “I’m not sure” one of them said nervously. 

Koki faded back into consciousness. He looked over and saw the boss’s face, bruised and swollen from the kick earlier.

“Now you little piece of garbage...you're gonna take this bomb...and you’re gonna walk as far away from here as possible.”

Koki felt a cold metal dagger press against his neck. He tightened his jaw. The boss smelled of beer and filth.

“How about I let the trigger go and everyone here dies?” Koki released his pinky finger, then his ring finger then his middle until all that held the bombs trigger was his thumb and index finger.

“Alright! Alright!” the boss yelled, clasping Koki’s hand back shut. “Let's make a deal kid,”

“How about we tell all the citizens to leave the bunker, and you drop the bomb in there?” the man said with a smile.

Koki remained silent. This guys’ planning something, I just know it. If I could just disarm him of this knife…

“Tell you what, I'm willing to take the deal,” Koki murmured. “You call all the citizens out, I’ll drop the bomb down, but first let go of me,”

“Hell no! You think Im dumb enough to fall for that?! Maybe these idiots are!” he said, pointing to his crew.

Koki sighed “Fine then, at least my right arm go, you know? So I can let go of the bomb!” 

The boss grunted. He called for a man with a large ax to come over.

“If this little twerp tries anything funny, kill him on the spot” the boss said.

 Another soldier went over to the trap door and opened it. “Go on” the boss said, “tell your people to get out”  

Koki stepped over to the open trap door. The boss was still holding on to his left arm (the arm without the bomb.) He leaned over and looked down into the bunker. It was 60 feet deep, deep enough to protect against most tremors and quakes. The sixty feet of separation would likely be enough to stop the mini hydrogen bomb from reaching the surface. 

Koki drew a deep breath. “Hello!” he yelled. “Is anyone down there?!” His voice echoed down the metallic walls, but there was no response.

“Hello!!!? I'm about to drop a mini hydrogen bomb! Please leav-”

“Hold it right there!” a familiar voice yelled from behind. Everyone turned around to face her.

“The academy seniors are here!” Sandra said. She stood in front of the soldiers, hands on her hips in a confident pose. Behind her was a platoon of final year academy students in black, two piece jumpsuits. 

The boss jerked Koki into a submission, holding his right arm up while the rest of his body was down and applying pressure on his shoulder.

“Cut it off now!” the boss yelled. The man swung the ax right towards Koki’s arm.

Sandra leaped in the way and kicked the side of the axe into the ground. The rest of the students rushed to the soldiers. The boss looked around fearfully. He released Koki and sprinted into the woods.

The academy students were overpowering the soldiers. Sandra instantly disarmed the man of his ax, grabbing his massive hand and prying it open to remove the weapon. One of Koki’s classmates, Leo, rushed over to him.

“Koki! Are you alright?!” he said, squatting by his side. He had a first aid kit strapped to his belt. 

“Leo back away!” Koki yelled. “I have this bomb and as soon as I release the trigger we all die. I need to get as far away from here as possible.”
“Okay I understand. But how are you gonna release it without being caught in the explosion?”

Koki shook his head. He stood up and ran away from the battle. “Don't worry, just take care of the people in the bunker!” he yelled back to him.

Koki retraced his steps, running out of the forest and back to Ardora’s empty streets. His fingers were aching from applying pressure to the trigger for so long.

He thought of focusing the mana into his hand, and tossing the bomb as high up as he could. It wouldn't work. The damn shockwaves would probably still kill me.

After much more thought, Koki determined there was no possible way for him to let go and survive. He couldn't let the citizens exit the bunker, not with all the enemy soldiers fighting above.  “Plus, there are thousands of citizens in that bunker,” he thought. “it would take at least an hour to get them all out...the enemies could have penetrated our defenses and entered the city by then.”

He decided to run back to the main gate. “If I'm gonna die anyways, I might as well take out a couple of the enemy intruders as well.”

He walked down the main street as fast as his legs could take him. All he could manage was a limping walk this time.

Eventually, he came to the tree where he and his father had landed. General Aanarudo was no longer there.

“He must have gone out to fight,” thought Koki. He limped past the trees and into the open field where he had fought the mech. 

A look of puzzlement crossed his face. Many soldiers scattered across the battlefield, lifeless on the floor. However, none of them were Ardora warriors. Koki walked out to the middle of the field. He scanned the landscape and spotted a huddle of Ardora soldiers sitting by the main gate. He limped over to them

“Did we already win?” He thought. One of the Ardora warriors stood up.

“Master, your son is here!” the warrior yelled. General Aanarudo stood up from the cluster of soldiers. He rushed to his son.

“Koki?! What happened to you? Are you alright?!” He hugged Koki close to his chest.

“Where’s your mom and brother? Are they alright?!”
Koki pried away from his father's hug. “There was an attack on the safezone” Koki said.

General Aanarudo froze. The other warriors immediately stopped their chatter and tuned in to the conversion.

“How is that even possible? They shouldn't know where it is?” 

“I don't know, but the academy students are taking care of it. But Dad, I have a bomb on me and if I let go if the trigger we’ll all die”

The soldiers bolted up like frightened cats and rushed away from Koki. “Oh I see” General Aanarudo said. “Let me have a look”

He lifted up Koki’s hand to his face. “Any idea what kind it is?” his father asked him.

“They called it a mini hydrogen bomb. They were gonna drop it down the bunker.”

“Mini huh” he closed both his hands around Koki’s. “I'm assuming that implies the explosion isn't as powerful as a normal hydrogen bomb, right?”

Koki shrugged his shoulders. The ardora warriors were hiding behind trees, but were still trying to observe.

“Did you guys take out all the enemy soldiers?” Koki asked.

“Yes and no. The people that got inside the city were the ones that breached perimeter defence. We took those out. There are still thousands more outside, trying to get in. Our perimeter defence is doing well right now thought”

“How many casualties?” Koki asked.

“Not many. Under 10. The enemy's strength lies in their number right now. I've never seen that many soldiers before, and we have no idea where they even came from.”

Koki ‘s eyes widened. “Thousands?” 

“Let go of the bomb,” General Aanarudo said.

“What? No! It's gonna explode!” 

“He's right, General Aanarudo!” one of the Ardora warriors yelled from behind a tree.

“As you can see my men don't trust me very much!” General Aanarudo laughed. “Does my son trust me?”

Koki sighed. “I trust you dad. But this is a bomb! It could kill us all!”

Master Aanrudo’s eyebrows lowered into a serious look. “As a general, I always have to make calls that can potentially kill everyone, or save them.” He put his hand on Koki’s shoulder. “Not to brag, but I'm general for a reason. I tend to make the right choice,” he said with a  playful smile.

“Okay” Koki muttered, “I trust you.”

He put his hands over Koki’s. “At the count of 3, let go, ready?” Koki nodded. “One...Two...Three!” 

A red light shined through their hands. “Koki! Let go now!” Master Aanarado screamed.

Koki released it into his father's hands. The explosion grew into an orb of light and expanded in between General Aanarudos palms. The Ardora warriors shook in fear from behind their cover. The orb expanded larger and larger, but was still in between his hands.

Suddenly, the orb combusted and the explosion shot outwards. Rather than destroying the entire field in the blink of an eye, the explosion was slowly expanding.

General Aanarudos face contorted in strain as he tried to compress the explosion between his hands. The explosion reversed, and flew back into the orb of light. General Aanarudo clasped his hands together and the orb vanished.

His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. He was panting and drenched in sweat. Koki rushed to his side.

He kneeled down on the burnt grass. “Dad, are you alright?!” 

General Aanarudo flipped over and laid on his back. “Im...alright son” he said in between breaths.

The warriors came out from behind their cover. They also rushed over to him.

“Master! What happened?!” one said to him.

“The blast” he panted. “It's gone. I ate it” 

The warriors gasped.“You ate it?! How?”

 General Aanarudo stood up, but still had his hands on his knees. “I didn't actually eat it,” he chuckled. “I absorbed it. All the energy.” 

 The warriors stared blankly at him. “I didn't know that was possible, even for a Peritia” one of them said.

“Koki, your head looks pretty bad,” General Aanarudo said. “You need a medic.”

Koki slumped down against the wall. Now that he no longer had the bomb, there was nothing to distract him from the searing pain in his head and hand. He closed his eyes, and fell unconscious.