The Village Disciples

Kono's calculated gaze flitted between his three adversaries, two of whom were students. His ten purple tails swayed attentively behind his back, strong heat flowing from them. His major concern was to subdue the single adult—Kou—before the man with the ponytail awoke, who had happened to be Haishi, the Chief of Buraun's Military.

Kou readied her sword, her breath even as she concentrated on the rogue and said, "You kids better not get in the way! Let me do the heavy lifting, only pitch in when I tell you to!" 

Naderamu filled her hands with blue shurikens, prepared to launch them outward at any moment. "Got it!"

Utsukushi nodded with her three blue tails and blue magic coating her hands, resembling the claws of a cat. "Yes!"

The blonde-haired rogue grunted, angling his knees. Was he going to make the first move—or were they? Based on what Kono has deduced, Kou was slower and physically weaker than him, but only by a sliver. With her having the additional two students, despite them being rookies in the field, the extra power could prove to be humbling to Kono. 

*SWOOSH!*

With his patience running dry, Kono lunged forward and directed himself at the blonde girl, Naderamu. As expected, the rogue was too fast for the student, leaving Naderamu completely vulnerable to any attack—such as three of Kono's tails aiming to pierce her flesh.

*SMACK!*

In a state of panic, Kou rushed to intercept Kono's attack and landed a solid blow to the rogue's cheekbone with the use of her fist, sending him tumbling through the woodlands violently. 

"...Oh." Naderamu exhaled, her eyes wide as she barely processed what had happened. 

Kou gritted her teeth, not sparing a glance at the students. "You're both severely outmatched against him! You need to stay back until I have him restrained!"

*BOOM!*

A massive purple beam of light shredded every tree and bush in its path as it traveled toward the three, leaving Kou to quickly erect a purple barrier of magic for herself, successfully shielding her and the students. 

*CRACK!*

Immediately after the blast, Kono emerged from the depths of the forest and slammed his right foot into Kou's purple barrier, cracking the tangible magic upon impact. The rogue then clasped his hands together above his head and shattered the barrier, making Kou stumble back from the force. 

"Got ya!" Kono hollered. 

Two of his purple tails wrapped around Kou's arms, enabling the rest of his tails to tangle together and form a thick spear, poised to impale the woman brutally. Kou could only watch her potential demise unfold, the skin on her arms being burned off due to the heat radiating from the purple tails.

*SHING!*

*BOOM!*

A blue shuriken had managed to graze Kono's tricep, prompting an explosion that blinded the rogue, pushing him off of Kou in the process. Naderamu, who stood off to the side, pumped her fist briefly.

"I hit him! I knew that throwing the shuriken early would compensate for being slow!" The blonde-haired girl stated, quickly masking her excitement with a stern countenance. 

Kou was quick to find her equilibrium, looking down at her scorched arms. 'Ah… that fuckin' smarts!'

"Are you okay!?" Utsukushi called out to Kou, her eyes filled with worry and fear. 

The woman inhaled and flapped her hands in the air, quelling the pink-haired student's fears. "Fine! Perfectly fine!"

*CRUNCH!*

Snapping a twig with his foot, Kono huffed, the laceration on his tricep healing instantly. His blonde hair was unkempt and slightly singed, causing the pigment of the strands to change into a different color. 

"He's either using hair dye or he just refuses to heal his hair…" Kou murmured, analyzing the rogue intently. 

Subtly, purple claws emerged from Kono's hands, mirroring the blue claws with Utsukushi's aura print. The pink-haired girl gasped, her eyes wavering with surprise and anxiety. 

"You… need to learn how to give up if you want to go far in this career." Kono asserted loudly, flexing his hands and flashing his razor-sharp claws made of his purple Aura Sense. 

Kou twirled her sword, her grip tightening around the hilt. "Eat shit!"

The rogue scoffed. "How crude…" 

*SWOOSH!*

Both Kono and Kou engaged in combat once again, their bodies flickering in and out of sight for Naderamu and Utsukushi. Tapping her index finger against her thumb anxiously, Utsukushi started to fret. She was just standing still, watching as Kou fought for her life while Naderamu focused on helping with her shurikens. What could Utsukushi do? She had nothing to throw except for a Genso-Kyu—but what if she missed? An explosion from a Genso-Kyu was much more fatal and damaging than Naderamu's shurikens, mainly due to her control over the size and damage of the shurikens.

The pink-haired girl bit the inside of her cheek nervously, tapping her foot on the dirt. '...I can't just stand here…'

Naderamu saw her classmate in the corner of her eyes, noticing her distress. "Utsukushi, you need to stay calm. They're moving faster than we can even process, so we just have to wait until the time is right!" 

Utsukushi shook her head. "That timing isn't guaranteed, you know!?"

*SMACK!*

With a loud smack, Kou was sent flying into the ground, saliva spewing out of her mouth. "Gragh!"

"No!" Naderamu shouted, lobbing three shurikens at Kono.

*WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!*

Kono's eyes darted to the impending shurikens made of magic, eliciting a small grunt from the rogue. He raised his left hand slowly—*BOOM!*—and discharged a purple beam of light from his palm, destroying the shurikens. 

"If either of you intervene, I'll slit your throats." The blonde-haired rogue threatened, returning his gaze to the wounded woman on the ground. 

Utsukushi started sweating, her mouth agape as she was forced to witness the end of Kou's life. '...I can't let her die like this!'

Kono's purple tails hovered over Kou. "You were… seriously annoying!" 

*FLAP!*

The rogue groaned, looking up at the sky as he noticed a bird flying in circles above them. '...Now what?'

The bird was strange to Kono—it was completely blue, with not a single feather on its body. The bird also emitted an Aura Sense, alerting Kono's detection senses. 

*FLAP!*

Suddenly, the bird dived downward and soared toward Kono. 

"Are you serious? A bird?" Kono grunted, raising one tail in response. "I'll only need a tail."

The bird opened its beak, a blue hue glowing inside of its mouth. 

*BOOM!*

A thin blue beam of light was produced by the bird, making Kono's eyes widen and forcing him to leap away, dodging the attack. 

'What the hell!? What kind of bird is that!?' Kono thought mid-air.

Without a moment to rest, the rogue's senses were alerted once again, prompting him to look up and see a wave of blue-colored arrows raining down on him. Hastily, Kono threw his hands upward and materialized a shield completely made out of his purple Aura Sense, taking the brunt of the arrows. 

"Too slow, dumbasses!" Kono roared, clenching his teeth.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

Abruptly, the arrows detonated, destroying the entire area around the blonde-haired rogue. During the explosion, Kono fell onto one knee, the weight of using so much of his Aura Sense affecting him. Unwillingly, four of Kono's tails disappeared, leaving him with six in total. 

'Damn it! I'm going to start losing tails real quickly if I don't end this!' Kono panicked, dropping his purple barrier. 

A flock of blue-colored birds fluttered around the rogue, creating a small cyclone that prevented Kono from lunging away. The birds disoriented the rogue's senses; his mind detected hundreds of birds at once.

'Who the hell are these people!?' Kono thought to himself, looking around frantically. 

A whip shot out from the cyclone of birds, wrapping around Kono's leg and stealing his balance. As the rogue attempted to retaliate, all of the birds dispersed, revealing a giant hawk diving down to the earth, his body shining brighter every second. 

'...Shit.'

*KABOOM!*

The abnormally large hawk collided with Kono, its body exploding instantaneously. 

After a few moments of silence, A brown-haired boy ambled out from the unscathed part of the forest. "Akogare? Are you alright?"

Walking out from a cloud of debris, Naguru Akogare chuckled. "We did it, Sukudo! Where's Meisei? His arrows did something, I think!"

"Right here, you lug!" The white-haired Meisei dropped onto the ground after leaping from a tree, dusting his armor off. "He lost some of his tails or whatever after my arrows struck down."

"Akogare!? Sukudo!? Meisei!? Where were you guys at!?" Utsukushi hollered in a state of shock, running toward her classmates.

Sukudo looked at his pink-haired classmate, his monotonous disposition unwavering. "We… detached ourselves from the group after a while. Mr. Oshieru was gone, the Chief and Lieutenant were gone, and we quickly noticed that you and Naderamu had fled elsewhere."

"I didn't feel like dying while just standing around," Naderamu said from afar, walking closer. 

Picking herself up from off the ground, Kou huffed. "...Great—more kids…"

"Woah!" Akogare raced toward the woman, scrutinizing her wounds. "You look like you died!"

"Akogare!" Naderamu shouted at her moronic classmate. "She's been keeping me and Utsukushi alive before you guys got here!"

Akogare blinked. "Oh."

Quiet groans could be heard from a crater in the ground, garnering the attention of everybody in the area. Kono, after a few moments, stood tall once again, his tails swaying around.

"...I just got pummeled… by students!?" The blonde-haired rogue yelled, wiping the dirt from his lips. 

It appeared that the fight was not yet over.

XXX

Sorry to cut this short, but I am handling something at this current moment and I do not wish to potentially ruin the flow of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned!

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_