The teacher drops down and grabs the heavy, massive figure of Kane Lur. He puts him over his shoulder and easily zooms back towards the school as if nothing was weighing him down. 

He runs through many halls, making many question the current event. 

“Son of Lucifer?!”

“Who has made him that injured?! Must’ve been a teacher!”

Comments like these are heard right across several halls. Just his presence stems an atmosphere of calm chaos. The sound is quite quiet but everyone’s minds are chaotic, trying to come up with reasoning to how Kane could’ve ended up in such an appalling state.

The teacher reaches a school doctor and lays his body on the bed. The doctor quickly gets some tools to examine him and sets up some technology for a scan. 

“What’s happened here?” He asks firmly.

“I don’t know. I heard a bomb go off and he was outside.” The teacher replies chaotically.

The scan machine makes a loud snapping noise as if it took a photo and the doctor rushes behind it to see the scan. He notices several pieces of scar tissue and burns right through his entire body. There isn’t more injury on his surface except, there’s more in his centre. It seems to be that the explosion didn’t come from the outside.

“The explosion was his doing.” He claims.

The teacher replies in shock. “What?! How could he even start an explosion himself? Why would he?! Even if he would, he’s a fire user!” 

“Fires still make explosions, sir.” The doctor states.

The teacher quickly combats the statement. “Yeah but not like that. They’re much larger, brighter and have a much quieter sound!”

The doctor understands this and stays silent, continuing his examination. 

He reaches over behind him and picks up a syringe with some glowing white substance within it. 

“Should be fine in an hour tops. I’ll get to work.” He stabs the syringe into the side of his abdomen and quickly rushes to strapping down his hands and feet with nigh-unbreakable chains. He also gets some minor pins and taps them with his gloved finger. He stabs them into certain places of his body and begins the healing process.

The teacher makes a nod of respect and says “Thank you, doctor.” He smiles and replies in happiness. “It’s what I do.”

The teacher makes his exit and just hopes that Kane actually survives.

Tanji and Alden make it out to a distant field of the school. They both face off against each other and something pops up in front of Alden.

[SUDDEN QUEST: Alden Na’este. Win the fight against Alden Na’este.]

[QUEST REWARDS: 600XP, 1 New Breathing Method, 2 Art Upgrades.]

Tanji reveals his sword and lightning trickles around his entire body. His eyes flash blue as lightning qi swirls and flows. His vascularity improves and so does his muscular definition. The bolts of lightning scurrying up his metal blade switch to a softer red colour. They also thicken the bolts in a way. 

He aims his sword at Alden in his signature Inside Stance. Alden’s fists cloak in a ghoulish fire that almost makes the sound of a scream when activated. His lean arms also get slightly bigger and his hair violently flows under the pressure from his fire. 

They both stand against each other as if they were sworn enemies. As if it was a battle to the death. The battlefield is plagued with silence, other than the sound of raging lightning and screaming fire. 

Silvan examines them closely and raises his hand. Both fighters prepare themselves. 

3. 2. 1. GO! 

Silvan drops his hand and the match begins. Tanji quickly rushes towards Alden and leaves a weak trail of blue and red lightning. He makes a slight leap forward and swings down with all of his might for a sword strike. Alden blocks with the very palms of his hands and gets cuts across both of them. 

As Tanji lands, he swings in again from the side. Alden manages to dodge. He makes several back steps to secure around 15 metres of distance from him. He releases a fireball from his palm and it soars towards Tanji. However, he seems to be filled with nothing but calmness. Collectedness. He slices the fireball in half and with ease.

The fire also decays from the interruption of Tanji’s harsh current. 

Five more fireballs are launched towards Tanji. He leaps over one and slices another while in the air. With his uncanny reflexes, he drops his neck and dodges another. Once he lands, he slices another once again. The last one does hit him clean in his face though. He wafts away the collection of smoke from his vision and quickly gets his vision locked on Alden once again.

He blurs towards his opponent and strikes down with his sword. Alden tries to step back again but Tanji keeps on pressing with his aggressive swings. He collects his lightning qi within his sword and swings with a much more potent slash. Even though Alden manages to dodge such swing, it clips him across his coarse cheek. He gets a small cut but nothing special. 

In reaction, he throws a hook and his first punch of the battle. Tanji dodges and slashes his wrist. However, Alden backhands him across the face with the same hand and kicks him away. As Tanji is rolling, Alden blindly runs right after him. As he plants his feet once again, he is slammed into the ground by Alden.

“Such strength!! He’s so skinny yet so unbelievably strong! Must be his wendigo side.” Tanji says in surprise. He grips his sword with one hand and reaches out his other. Alden runs right towards him and throws a punch. Tanji predicts and slips past it to then slash across his chest and abdomen. Alden twists his body right around to kick him in the side of his body. He roughly knees Tanji in his chin then extends for a full-fledged kick.

The kick sends Tanji flying back 5 metres. He gasps for air as he hits the ground. He struggles through the grass to find his glowing red sword. This makes him jump to his feet and continue the battle. 

Alden runs at supernatural speeds and leaps metres into the air. He dives down with a punch that Tanji blocks. He feels the force of the hit vibrate through his body and into the ground below. The sound can also be sharply heard by Silvan who is somewhat far from the current battle.

Tanji manages to get a light cut on his chest but is grabbed by his shirt. Alden’s eyes glow white and his hair switches from a ginger-brown to a lifeless grey. He lifts him with a mere arm then he slams him into the grassy ground below. It causes the ground to break apart and decay, leaving a weakened Tanji a little trapped. 

He has finally felt the overwhelming strength of the wendigo. The fire of the ghoul.

He calmly thinks to himself. “What a match-up..”