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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 6

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Author: Blue_Rat

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ch6

These insect-like creatures came racing toward Kazuki. Their many legs scrapped the ground as they gained speed and when they were at the height of their momentum, their many legs flexed and they launched themselves several feet into the air at Kazuki.

Sharp teeth revealed, they came at Kazuki’s with mouths agape and droll reeking of shit dripping from said openings.

(It’s pointless to bat them away, again and again, they’ll simply keep coming back. I need to crush them right now but how?)

As soon as one came close enough, Kazuki grabbed a handful of its legs and threw it to the ground. He felt the Azirian blood going out of control and knew he had little time. Lifting his foot, he stomped down atop the bug-like thing, hoping to crush it beneath his boot.

Kazuki wanted to do this as quickly as possible but because of the Azirian blood and the dark energy inside his body, his movements were far slower than normal and he could tell that his strength was reduced from the harsh environment. As soon as his foot came down, several of the creature’s legs folded upward and caught his stomp. Flexing its legs, it then knocked Kazuki’s foot away.

Kazuki’s foot then landed in some of his own spilled blood from earlier and he slipped. He tried to catch his balance but before he could two more of these bugs jumped straight at his face. Kazuki’s body froze for a split second due to the Azirian blood but with his ki he suppressed it. Just in time, he knocked the first one away from his face and spun his body in mid-air avoiding the second one.

Right after he fell on his back and felt both the blood reawakening and a few of his wounds reopened. Again he suppressed the blood but had no time to concentrate on his wounds as two more bugs jumped at him.

Kazuki had no choice but to roll miserably out of the way. He tried to use this moment to jump back onto his feet but then 2 more leaped at him. Kazuki caught one in mid-air but it struggled furiously in his grip and bit down on his hand.

*Crunch*

Kazuki felt a bone in his hand break under the creature’s heavy bite. He refused to panic though. He took the one clinging to his hand and swung it at the other that leaped at him and knocked it away. Extending some ki into his hand, his bones and muscles were reinforced and his hand remained intact for now. Using his free hand he put ki into it and grabbed one of the bugs legs and with a forceful pull, he tore one of the front legs off and tossed it aside.

The bug immediately released its bite and retreated backward while making terrible screeching noises similar to someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard.

Kazuki finally bought a few seconds to make it back to his feet. He purged some of the Azirian blood and quickly suppressed the rest of it.

Inspecting his hand, he could tell the damage was bad. Had he waited even a moment later to reinforce his hand with ki, he would be missing a large chunk from it.

The bugs took notice of their injured comrade and their legs started rubbing the pointed hairs, making clicking noises. It was like they were trying to communicate with one another. Kazuki used his ki to observe this scene and noticed the large cone-shaped hole atop their back tremble and open and close rapidly every time they rubbed their legs together.

(Are they listening to the clicks their legs make with those cone-shaped holes on their backs?)

In order o defeat an enemy you must find a weakness. Usually one would be able to go for an opponent’s throat or the eyes, the groin, under the armpit, and so on. These creatures had none of those weaknesses.

(Every creature must be able to sense their environment somehow, otherwise, they cannot survive. These things have no eyes. In this place, eyes are unnecessary but it seems their hearing is extraordinary.)

Kazuki used his good hand to test a theory.

*Snap*

As soon as he snapped his fingers he saw the cone-shaped hole on the bugs back open and point in his direction as though they were detecting him.

(So that hole on their back is like an ear. Good!)

Kazuki added ki to his fingers and snapped. With more strength put in, the resounding snap sounded like two large rocks slamming into one another.

*SNAP!*

*SHREEEEEE*

The bugs trembled and the holes on their back closed momentarily. They furiously clicked their legs together before again jumping at Kazuki all at once.

(So that only pissed you guys off. Well then how about this.)

Kazuki waited for the bugs to appear right before him before he took in a deep breath. Ignoring the pain coming from his still injured left lung, Kazuki added some ki to his voice as he shouted.

*FUKKKKKKKK! OFFFFFFFF!*

Kazuki’s voice was like a small thunderclap and it echoed for several miles. The effect on the bugs was immediate.

They all dropped onto the ground and writhed about as though they had just been shocked and fried. Liquid spilled from the holes on their back and they twitched for a few seconds before they all fell over and moved no more.

As that liquid hit the air, Kazuki detected it with a sniff and found the odor to be worse than their breath.

(That’s most likely their blood. To lose that much, surely their dead now right?)

Kazuki wanted to inspect them but he couldn’t walk over to them without the blood spreading like poison. Right now they didn’t move and what was more important was his injuries. He had only moved about and fought for a few seconds but several wounds had reopened and blood was spilling out of his back and lower abdomen, soaking his clothes. Not only that his arm was still fucked and his hand was nearly torn off moments ago. Many bones were broken and his body was covered in bruises.

Kazuki observed the bugs for another silent moment before he took in a slow deep breath and circulated his ki. He first stopped his bleeding and then reset his bones and fused them together.

*ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!*

Kazuki nearly jumped with a jolt hearing such a roar.

The roar was so loud and powerful, Kazuki felt reverberations in his chest and part of the cliff wall beside him trembled and shook.

(A magical beast, why? It must have noticed me after I shouted like a fucking idiot. What am I saying, of course, it noticed me. Things down here must have excellent hearing and I shouted at the top of my lungs like a fool. It probably thinks I challenged it or maybe this is its territory, either way, I need to figure out how to leave this area without being paralyzed by the Azirian blood.)

Kazuki thought that but he had no idea what to do. Every time he moved, Reya’s last gift would cause him to freeze on the spot. He would then need to suppress the blood with his ki and purge it from his body before it spread everywhere and killed him. The question was how?

(I can surround my head with layers and layers of ki to isolate it but that uses up far too much ki. I won’t be able to fight very long nor run away if most of my energy and focus is on defending myself from the blood. Kai and Danny told m the god aura from my compass completely suppressed it but I have no idea how to use that energy. No that’s not completely true. When I was falling and I was absolutely desperate I used the godly aura to fill my broken ruler with its energy and saved myself from the fall. I can use it, I’ve done it before but the question was how?)

Kazuki’s first thought was to try and command the compass with his thoughts and will but there was no response whatsoever. He tried to use his ki to pull on the godly aura but that as well resulted in failure. He tried an abundance of things but nothing seemed to work.

*ROARRRRRRRR!*

(Shit, the sound of the roar is drawing closer. Should I just say fuck it and try to play dead…)

Kazuki wanted to slap himself for thinking about such an idiotic idea.

(No, fuck the nonsense and think. I used the aura before but how. Think, think.)

Kazuki shut his eyes and began to think about Glacious and Etora. Both of them used aura many times in front of him.

(Glacious and Etora can use aura. Glacious using it is understandable but Etora who can’t even use magic properly can use aura. Aura doesn’t require magic, it uses a different kind of power. I use ki but the ki I have comes from both within me as well as the environment it is an energy of life and death and exists everywhere but Aura doesn’t come from outside at all. It’s something from the inside…From the inside.)

When Kazuki thought up to here, like a puzzle, pieces of Glacious shared memory began to fall into place and he understood.

(Aura is an energy that comes directly from one’s soul. It can be used to intimidate, create an invisible pressure that can literally press down on an enemy. It can also protect you from some attacks and can even attack others. A master can use it to directly attack someone’s soul and beyond that, it can be used in a variety of different ways.)

Kazuki felt as though he was enlightened. He observed the memories he had gotten from Glacious and focused on how Glacious used aura and how he controlled it. As Kazuki did this, unaware of it himself, a small formless energy began to gather within his soul.

(Aura is something controlled by using one’s emotions. It can be fueled with hatred or love or any strong emotion. When I used it to save my life, I was desperate to survive. It was that strong, overwhelming emotion to live that allowed me to control the godly aura for a moment.)

Kazuki thought about that feeling of survival. He thought about how he felt at that exact moment of life and death and how he was on the verge of despair. Using that emotion, he then thought about controlling the godly aura and keeping that feeling fresh on his mind, the godly aura slowly began to respond in kind. It was drawn from within the compass as well as from within his mage core and it flowed towards his head. Sinking in, it flowed within his mind and protected him.

Kazuki slowly opened his eyes and released a heavy breath.

*Haaa*

He still couldn’t see anything in this darkness but opening his eyes he felt a small semblance of control and with it, he took a single step forward.

…

…

He felt the blood try to move for a split second but the godly aura blocked its path like a stone wall.

A large grin formed on Kazuki’s face and he took another step forward, then another and another after that.

(I can do this!)

*ROARRRRRRRRRR!*

The ground shook and Kazuki was snapped out of his blissful atmosphere. He quickly searched the nearby area and found the broken half of his black ruler. Putting a bit of ki into it, the black ruler’s shape changed and it wrapped around Kazuki’s wrist like a bracelet. With that, Kazuki quickly turned tail and ran the fuck away from there. A feeling of excitement as well as a glint of hope burning in his chest.

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