Fireworks

As Kai reached the tree, he tensed his legs and jumped as high as he could. After reaching the highest place possible after the jump, he dug his claws into bark and started climbing.

He was gaining height at a monstrous speed, it would only be a few seconds before he would have to begin his plan.

But before he could do that, he had to make sure Wa'rak actually knew the plan. While they may have fought a lot together, Kai was still a little random when it came to plans.

Sadly, since they didn't have long before collieion, Kai could only say a few words.

"Sorry, I need the XP. Boost me."

Kai felt a small shiver run up his spine, as if someone was cursing him. Less than a second later, he got his response from Wa'rak in the form of a growl.

Down on the land below, everyone was shocked at the sight of a wolf and something that resembled a wolf darting up the side of two separate trees.

Even Failure could not tell what was about to happen.

"What's your plan, my dear Kai? Whatever it is, it's sure to be entertaining.

Hmm, should I step in?"

As Failure observed the sight, he pondered should he just kill the rest of the abominations incase whatever Kai and Wa'rak was about to attempt would go wrong.

"No no, I'm sure it will be fine."

Deciding against it, Failure just smiled as he got prepared to witness a miracle.

There wasn't much space between the falling abominations and Kai and Wa'rak anymore. The only problem being that while Kai and Wa'rak were climbing the trees, the abominations were falling in between them.

So they had to meet.

Letting out a growl of self-assurance, Kai kicked off the tree and soared through the air. It was a much less graceful sight when compared to Aldred, but what works works.

A split second after Kai, Wa'rak pushed himself away from the tree he was climbing.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Kai grinned as he heard the pitch-black wolf complain. Why should he complain though? He was probably a much higher level than Kai, what use is small amounts of XP to him?

Time seemed to pass in slow motion as the crowd below watched in awe as the two got closer and closer. Just as they were about to collide-

Collide?

No, they were not going to collide. Before they could end up accidently hitting each other, Wa'rak angled himself downwards so he would start falling slightly quicker than Kai.

As Wa'rak angled himself, Kai pulled his legs up slightly and stood on the wolf's back. Not even a second later, Kai used Wa'rak as a springboard and flew towards the abominations.

Their plan was simple. They wouldn't have been able to reach the majority of the falling abominations from the trees, so they had to do it from the middle.

But if they did it from the middle, how would they get upwards?

So Kai used Wa'rak to propell himself forward so he could collide with the abominations.

Now, it may have been an incredibly stupid idea because of one tiny, minute detail Kai overlooked.

While one explosion didn't damage him that much, would dozens?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Gritting his fangs, Kai squinted so he could still see through the wind wrapping around him. He was just about to collide with the first abomination, and that explosion would serve as a catalyst for all the other ones.

Heh... Catalyst.

Letting out a roar, Kai swung his arm as hard as he could. His claws connected with the abomination he was aiming for and sent it flying into the body of another one.

Then, the explosions started.

One after another, the abominations which looked like a major threat not so long ago, started to blow up.

Kai was a small bit under all the explosions, but he could still feel the raging heat from the blasts.

His fur was starting to singe, the bits at the end burning off from the heat. He couldn't bear to keep his eyes open, the intensity was too much.

Worse than that, his health was slowly starting to dwindle. While he had a much larger pool of it after his transformation, the joint impact of dozens of man-made bombs was more than enough to put a dent in it.

But the pain was more than worth it for the notifications it brang.

You have slain...

You have slain...

You have slain...

You have slain...

As Kai fell, the notifications just didn't stop ringing. Even though he hadn't technically killed the abominations, he was the one who set off the explosions that did.

Damn, how much XP did Sofia get then?

But even though he was constantly getting XP while plummeting through the air, he still hadn't leveled up.

Each moment spent falling was agonisingly slow, even though was was slowly growing quicker and quicker in his descent.

Come on... Come on... Give me the level up.

By now, Kai was nearly at the ground. His fur was decorated with bits of abomination flesh and all the edges were burned. He looked absolutely horrible, yet he would look even worse if he didn't level up.

You have slain...

You have slain...

The people and beasts who were under where Kai was falling scrambled away so they didn't get landed on.

Aldred took a step forward, as if he was going to go and catch the falling boy, but Failure placed a hand on the wolf's gray fur and smiled. Shaking his head, Failure sighed and said:

"That was entertaining, there's no doubt about that. But to be truly entertaining a show needs a good end, and you saving him just wouldn't feel rewarding now, would it? Plus, he needs to learn that there won't always be someone there to save him if he attempts these idiotic plans."

Aldred rolled his yellow eyes and let out low growl of disapproval, but he didn't move from his spot.

"You and your damn theatrics."

Eventually, Kai had to give up on the idea of leveling up and focus on the idea of not splattering into a mess of bloody paste when he landed.

It was much easier said then done.

Even with the help of Nonchalance, thinking of a way out was not that simple. He was going to get hurt no matter what, so all he could do was try to minimilize the damage.

Curling into a ball, Kai inwardly cursed as he braced for impact. It was going to be sore, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but what was more sore was the bitter feeling that all of that was for nothing. He didn't end up leveling up after that incredible display of acrobatics.

If you could count that as acrobatics, Kai wasn't sure. He hadn't done the splits or anything after all.

Kai mentally prepared himself for impact, careful not to bite his toungue as he hit the ground. He wasn't sure if it could actually happen, but he heard stories of people accidently biting off their toungue and choking so he didn't want to risk it.

Not even a second later, he hit the ground.

The ground cracked and sunk under him, creating a crater. A cloud of dust quickly rose up, hiding the sight from the view of everyone else.

Kai's bones creaked and trembled, his head felt as if it had been hit by a hammer. He couldn't move any part of his body, yet he could already hear a faint laugh in distance.

He, of course, knew who that laugh belonged to.

Bastard.

Cursing Failure to try and numb the pain, Kai writhed on the ground as he kept cursing.

A howl of pain erupted from the cloud, but no one dared to get closer.

No one other than Sofia.

The pale woman quickly made her way to the crater with a worried look on her face. Wa'rak followed close behind her, but he didn't seem as worried. He wasn't a bit worried actually, he was inwardly happy at what just happened to Kai.

No one was allowed to say he was bad at communicating, even if it worked out alright in the end.

Noelle watched with a concerned gaze. Kai had just been blown up multiple times and then crashed into the ground, that had to have hurt.

The only one who didn't seem worried, other than Wa'rak, was Failure. The charismatic man was in his own world, clutching his stomach as he laughed at what just happened.

"Did you see that, Aldred? Oh, that was incredible! Aren't you happy I stopped you from saving him now?"

Aldred just shook his head tiredly in response. He had seen enough of Failure's antics over the last hundreds of years to have built up a slight tolerance to the annoyance.

Using her hand, Sofia fanned away the cloud of dust to try and get a better look at Kai. Sofia carefully stepped around the outer edge of the crater incase she accidently stood on the injured boy. Worriedly, she shouted:

"Kai, you good down there?"

A low groan was all she got in response.

Sighing, Wa'rak swiped at the cloud and it all blew away, revealing the pitiful sight that was hidden in it.

Kai squirmed in pain as he closed his eyes, they were still sore from the heat so he didn't want to open them just yet.

Still, he had to.

Looking up, Kai saw the attractive face of Sofia and the not so attractive face of Wa'rak. Above them was countless bits of abomination flesh falling. It could have been a beautiful sight if you didn't know the origin, it really was like red snow.

So that's why Kai was confused to see a piece that looked larger than the others. It was also falling quicker.

Squinting, Kai tried his hardest to discern why that one piece felt so off. Then, he realised why that was.

He still couldn't speak, he was too hurt. All he could do was groan and point his hand upwards at the sky.

"Yeah, you did that. But what the hell were you thinking?"

Sofia didn't get the meaning behind Kai's action, assuming he was just trying to show off or something.

Kai let out a groan as a singular abomination got closer and closer. Somehow, it survived the mass explosion and was about to land right on top of Kai.

Unable to move, Kai could only watch in horror as the abomination got closer and closer.

Still pointing into the sky, Kai braced himself to get blown up again.

Noticing a strange expression on his face, Sofia finally turned to look upwards, her eyes widening as she does so.

"Oh, shi-"

But it was too late, she couldn't do anything. She could only watch in horror as the abomination fell onto Kai's... claw?

The abomination landed perfectly on Kai's shaky claw that was pointed to the treetops, impaling itself on the sharpness of it.

Sofia shielded shielded herself from the impending explosion, but it never came.

What came instead, was a notification.

Level 20 reached

21 unnasigned stat points obtained

Skill selection obtained