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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 19

Author: Blue_Rat

ch19

As Kazuki watched the airflow get sucked back up in the cave and disappear, his head was suddenly filled with a million thoughts.

(The wind and aura disappeared again. The timing was too close to the first to be a coincidence. When the wind and aura came out the first time, it lasted just over half a minute, and just now, it again lasted just over half a minute. I’m sure of it.)

Kazuki couldn’t be exact on the time, due to the fact that he was being crushed and the last thing on his mind was counting how long the event had lasted but his intuition told him the timing was nearly identical. The cave wasn’t the only thing that was perplexing. Kazuki inspected his aura and found that it had grown several times over. One incident after the other was just happening, and Kazuki was happy that his aura grew explosively but he absolutely detested all of these sudden events happening without his control.

(I thought I had near-perfect control over the godly aura but when I was desperate it didn’t follow my will and instead went directly into my Mage core. In the end, it seems to have fed itself to my own aura allowing for its insane growth so things worked out but this is infuriating. If things didn’t go this well, I could have easily crossed the barrier of death just now.)

Kazuki tried to sit up and quickly felt a sharp pain all over.

*Eurh*

His broken bones and shifting organs left him wanting to vomit from the pain. Circulating his ki, he swiftly pushed his bones back in place and began to fuse his bones together. He also readjusted his organs and moved them back into place and started to mend his body at a rapid rate. Blood stopped flowing from his wounds in seconds and muscle started to stitch itself together and heal at a visible rate. Were Kazuki a normal person, he would have died instantly from such wounds but thanks to his strengthened body, and ki, he could withstand such gruesome injuries and put himself back together.

*Crack Pop Snap*

As his bones finished connecting and fusing together, Kazuki stretched out his ki to reexamine the cave but he found he was too far now. When he had kicked away from the ground, he had launched himself over 20 feet away and his ki could only stretch around 10 feet. At the same time, Kazuki felt an abundance of energy right now coming from within. His aura had grown so much in so little time, Kazuki became curious.

Stretching out his aura like he would his ki, he tried to feel his surroundings. As he did so, the world around him seemed to light up all at once. No, light did not actually return to his eyes but rather things became clearer. It was similar to when he used his sense of hearing and got an image in his head, except this formed an even clearer image. It was almost like he was using his actual eyes on a bright day, that’s what he could sense right now with his aura.

(This, it’s like I can actually see again.)

Kazuki’s aura touched upon the rocks on the ground and spread through the air. He could describe and detect every detail upon the surface of the floor beneath him and even sense the dark energy in his surroundings more clearly. The world seemed to have opened up to him. Before he could never sense things to such a degree using the godly aura from his golden compass. He had been trying to master it and trained with it every day but had never been able to truly unlock all of its abilities. Maybe because it wasn’t his aura in the first place or maybe because he hadn’t trained with it long enough. Either way, he had never truly tapped into its potential. Having just created his own aura, Kazuki could already feel much greater control and much much more.

Kazuki stretched his aura out as far as he could. Ten feet, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen feet and a few inches before he could stretch it no more. It could cover further ground than his own ki could by almost double. Not only could it go further than his ki but the potential for growth, if he compared it to Glacious’s or the creature within the cave, couldn’t his in time at least match theirs he wondered.

Kazuki shook his head in self-deprecation.

(Those two are beings far beyond me. I will never match them but if I can even get halfway where they reside, the things that could resist me in this world would be rare.)

*FWHOOOSH!*

The cave once more erupted with a large gush of air and the aura soon followed. Kazuki was more than a little surprised but at the same time, his curiosity outweighed his fear. Now that he was no longer within the aura’s range, he felt secure in observing it. Within his mind, he quickly began counting, wondering if his guess was right.

One second passed, ten, twenty-five, until finally, after thirty-seven seconds…

*WHOOOSH!*

The flow reversed and was sucked back within the cave once more.

Kazuki noted the time that passed and waited. Thirty seconds later to be exact, the flow blasted out from the cave. A little over half a minute later and the air and aura retreated. Kazuki watched this for nearly an hour. In and out, always 37 seconds both ways. Not a second over nor under. Every time was the exact same. Kazuki got an eerie feeling the longer he observed this.

(The way this air flows, in and out with perfect rhythm… it’s like the cave is breathing. Whatever is in there, if that truly is its breath, just what kind of beast resides inside. Could it be…the Titans lair?)

Kazuki couldn’t be 100% sure but it was the only thing that made sense to him. The amount of aura that leaked from there was not normal and had to belong to an extremely powerful being. Not only that, the way just the aura scared off the monster that’s been stalking Kazuki, what else could it be, Kazuki wondered.

*Grrr*

Kazuki’s stomach rumbled lowly, interrupting his thoughts. He remembered why he’d come here in the first place. It was to search for food as well as gather more rubber rocks for his climb up. He had yet to find either as he’d run into this obstacle.

(To walk in front of the cave though. I can time the aura. It comes and goes every 37 seconds and the distance from one side of the opening to the other is only a few hundred feet. I can traverse that distance almost instantly. The question is though, do I take the risk. Even if I can get to the other side without ever being touched by the aura, what about the Titan inside. Would it be offended if I simply walk in front of it’s home. Would it kill me just for that? Glacious has said before how temperamental Titans can be but he also said they won’t bug you if you don’t bug them. Who the fuck knows though. My presence in front of its home alone could be counted as bothering it and then death would follow.)

Kazuki took a few steps closer. Enough so he could observe the entrance with his aura but not enough to be affected by the breath of the cave. He felt a few feet in front of the cave’s opening and noticed the ground was left completely untouched by anything. There were no rocks that he could observe nor any blemishes or cracks on the ground whatsoever. There were no trails from beasts of any kind and by sniffing, Kazuki could tell that no creature had left their mark or been near this area. The ground leading into the cave was left impeccable as though it had never even been touched in all of history.

All of this clued Kazuki in.

(So other creatures don’t even come near here. I would be foolish to even try to walk in front of this cave… but what about going over it?)

Kazuki checked the spikes along the cliff wall. Grabbing a rock he tossed it above the cave where it hit something far in the distance.

*Tak*

The sound came back to him and he saw an image in his mind of all the spikes from where he stood to the other side in a flash. His gloves and rubber footwear were already wearing thin but the distance was only a few hundred feet. To make it over and then come back, Kazuki believed he could make it without completely ruining his equipment.

Just in case though, he checked on the rope at his waist as well.

(Gloves and footwear are almost done for but they should last a back and forth. The rope is not bad though and will be fine in an emergency. After coming all the way out here, I can’t simply go back empty-handed now can I?)

Kazuki waited a few more minutes for his body to fully heal. With him concentrating on it fully with his ki, he could recover at a much quicker rate.

Standing up, he felt completely recovered. Coming close to the wall, he stretched out his aura and found a spike almost 20 feet away.

(Let’s do this.)