"It's done," Kai returned to the others and sat on a log.
His stomach had been growling since he didn't have the time to eat, wanting to make his move quickly, especially after what he learned. Abigail handed him his portion of the roasted wild boar, and he devoured it.
"And?" Dorian raised a brow. "Did you find where they kept their mana ores?"
Kai wiped the grease from his lips, "No. I don't think it's in any of the tents. It's either hidden somewhere or still waiting to be transported. I've marked a good distance—from their camp with my blood. Don't get too close to my scent or you'll be spotted."
"But what if they buried it somewhere close? I need to get closer," Dorian crossed his arms.
His forehead creased with hard lines as he contemplated the situation.
"Just search the outer ring first, and then you can risk it," Kai suggested.
If the hidden stash was outside the radius he marked, then getting close first would be taking a risk they shouldn't have. But Dorian wasn't in line with his thinking, "It's Lion. I think he'd want the stash to be closer to him for easy access."
"Didn't you hear me? You're taking unnecessary risks."
"I take the risks that I want. Don't argue with me on this."
Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure.
He wanted to strangle Dorian for his stubbornness, but he decided to swallow that intent.
Especially when he noticed Abigail was looking at them with concern.
"I'll scout the area—and keep an eye if there are students bringing the mana ores," Kai finally said.
"Kai," Abigail tugged his arm. She was sitting closer to him now. "Where's the camp?"
"Why the fuck do you need to know that?" Dorian intervened with a scowl, which frightened Abigail. His eyes were akin to a hawk, eyeing her down as if she overstepped. "Just stay back and let us handle these things. Your main task is not to get taken out and heal us."
Abigail looked down at her fidgeting hands timidly.
She wanted to help more, but it seemed the others didn't want her to.
"It's about five minutes of sprinting north," Kai answered her, regardless. "Don't go that way."
"Ah, right," Abigail nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."
Kai turned away and saw that Dorian was looking at him like he was an idiot.
But he ignored the look.
After eating and securing the perimeter to make sure that they are safe, Kai and Abigail went to sleep. The ground is hard—and more uneven than their last hideout, but at this point, they were already used to sleeping roughly.
Dorian offered to be the first one to keep a lookout.
He said something about eating too much, but Kai could tell that he was too stressed to sleep.
Being near Team Coeus put him on edge, and frankly, that's a natural reaction.
Once morning came, Kai woke up and was greeted by a pleasant sight.
[You have gained 4 exp]
"Four exp? That's an increase," He smiled, noting that he now has more than twenty usable exp. Last night, he felt the ability to meet with Noxian at will, perhaps because now he had mastered the Perfect Slash.
But he decided not to meet with Noxian.
He has things to do, and wanted to be fresh in the morning.
Kai noticed that whenever he entered the House of Night, when he woke up, he didn't feel the same recharge—as he usually did. Not energetic. He assumed it was because being in that expanse is taxing on his mind.
So, he skipped meeting with Noxian.
Looking around, he saw Dorian was sleeping with his back against the tree.
His hands were still equipped with his fingerguards, ready in case of a sudden attack.
Kai shook his head at that.
Team Coeus seemed to have given Dorian a traumatic stress disorder.
But then, he realized that his scimitar was also in his hand.
"I guess the same goes for me, too," Kai barely finished the thought before he was taken aback when he saw no sight of Abigail. She was gone. Vanished. And almost instantly, his insides turned to ice, "Where did she go?"
Kai ran out of the bushes and looked around.
His eyes searched for her shape and blue hair, but found nothing.
Gritting his teeth, he scoured the surrounding area, trying to track her down, and eventually found footprints. The person making these footprints has small feet, which were undoubtedly Abigail's.
He followed the trail.
Not forgetting to be alert to any potential ambush.
A voice greeted him from behind, and it stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Lesser Angel…" the voice called with a taunting mock.
Even before turning, Kai could already tell who it was. He would not forget—the voice of the person who almost ended his life the moment he stepped into Ixos. Slowly, he turned around and saw Rakha.
Half of his face was burnt, and there's a scar that runs down from his forehead to his cheek.
Seems like he barely managed to survive the slaughter that night.
And to Kai's surprise, Rakha was holding Abigail hostage.
His dirty left hand was gripping her throat from behind, and the other was pressing a knife against her side. "I'll be damned," He laughed scornfully. "To think the Lesser Angel managed to survive this long… You're quite something, huh?"
"Why are you doing this to her? She's in our team." Kai clenched the handle of his scimitar.
His tightening grip made a creaking, leathery sound against the anti-slip handle.
"Why am I doing this, you asked?" He chuckled, finding the question to be stupid. "Look at us properly. There's no more Team Crius. Do you think I'll be stupid enough to give you a chance to attack me?"
"I won't attack you."
"Right… Like how Matilda wouldn't sell her own classmates."
"What is your plan here?" Kai's eyes narrowed sharply. "What's the use of threatening me when your survival condition involves taking down Team Coeus? Let her go, and we can find a way to restore Team Crius."
"Hah!" Rakha exhaled sharply in amusement. "You still don't understand? There's no chance anyone could take down Lion. As much as I hated to admit it, that bitch did the right thing by siding with Lion."
"You've met with Lion..." Kai realized.
"What do you think?" Rakha barked angrily.
The burn on one side of his face and scar were evidence of that terrifying encounter.
"Is that what you're going to do?" Kai tilted his head. "Side with Lion?"
"I heard what you did to them. I heard you raided them and took their mana ores," Rakha's lips curled into a smirk. But for some reason, Kai found a strain on it. "If I kill you and offer your head to him, he might take me in."
Kai nodded and then let his head drop down as he stared at the ground.
He was motionless, completely still in the moment.
"What's wrong?" Rakha sneered. "Are you finally accepting your fate?"
Rakha thought Kai was scared, but he was not.
He was calling out his sister's name in his mind, recalling her last message for him, and let it play through until the very end. In her voice, he could hear her frustration. He thought Bella didn't know much about what happened outside the house, but she knew.
It must be her intuition, but she knew that most of the time, he was holding back.
Now, he didn't need to hold back.
In this world, only the strong will be listened.
Kai exhaled deeply through his mouth and then raised his gaze. And when his eyes stared at Rakha again, the light behind them was drained of all restraint. There was now bloodshot in them.
Like a man who was ready to kill.
"Rakha, even after your hostility, I am willing to put it aside to take down Team Coeus." He tilted his hand, pointing the body of his gleaming scimitar forward, letting it reflect the worry that was now present on Rakha's face. "But say another wrong word, and you'll see exactly the reason why I'm still alive."
"Big talk for a Lesser Ang—"
Slash—!
Kai's scimitar hummed with mana as it struck the thick tree trunk beside him.
A violent, black energy burst forth from the sharp side of the blade like a cutting edge.
It was his new, Dark Discharge imprint.
Any attack he made would result in an energy blast that pierces through defense.
For a second, the silence was deafening.
And then, almost like the sound of a lightning strike, the tree trunk snapped and crashed to the right, sending a tremor through the ground. Behind it stood a student with a red armband, one of Rakha's.
He was standing there, waiting for the signal from Rakha to attack.
Now, he was exposed.
He blinked once, surprised by the sudden turn of events.
Then, without understanding why, his vision suddenly shifted without his permission.
And the last thing he saw as he fell to the ground was his own body that had the upper half of its torso severed completely.
Rakha stared at the student's body in utter shock.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now.
'Y-You're joking, right?' He swallowed harshly. 'He sliced Rick in two through the tree?'
Even Abigail was completely stunned by this sight.
Kai is quite dependable and strong despite being a Lesser Angel, but this was crazy.
"I know there's another one behind the tree to my left," Kai's voice echoed, pulling the attention back to him. "If you don't come out right now, you'll suffer the same fate as your friend. Make your move."
Almost instinctively, the student walked out from hiding with his hands raised.
He didn't want to be sliced in half like Rick.
Kai glanced at the student before fixating his eyes back on Rakha.
"Go ahead. Hurt her. Kill her. I wouldn't be able to stop it from this distance," Kai said, and it was the truth. He didn't have a movement imprint. He can't reach Rakha faster than the speed of the knife stabbing into Abigail's flesh. "But know that if you do that, you won't survive the next minute."
Even now, Rakha is still confident in his abilities.
He could win, but the power Kai showed was beyond the expectations of a Lesser Angel.
And frankly, with their line-up, they might really be able to win.
"Are you certain that we can win?" Rakha asked; his tone was now serious.
It was clear that he had pushed aside the thought of Kai being a Lesser Angel and now took him seriously.
"Yes," Kai nodded, "we can win. And I know how to win. As long as we play it right, Team Coeus will fall."
Tension was high in the next ten seconds as the two stared at each other.
But eventually, Rakha pulled his hands away.
"I was reluctant to opt for this anyway. Bowing down to those bitches irked me," He shrugged and stepped away. "Now, tell us your plan. Tell us exactly how you're going to even attempt to defeat the mighty Team Coeus."