Blood Debt

Another year under the tutelage of Macarthur had led the boys down a particular road in which they spent three-quarters of their time training and the remaining sleeping and they had after a year both firmly completed their Rank 1 training redo after fully grasping their concepts. Macarthur was stunned by the progress the two boys were able to make. They had taken a year to complete what took most people close to 18 years of their life.

The boys were geniuses in their own right which is why he had the boys collecting debts for the past half a year so that they could gather experience fighting real opponents and not sparring.

This time was different though the boys had left early in the morning to retrieve an item from a deal that someone had reneged on for an item that Macarthur told them was of utmost importance so here they were sitting on top of a building waiting for their prey.

"Peter, what do you think is so important that Macarthur can't find someone else to buy it from?" said Regius.

Peter pulled an apple from his pocket and took a large bite before answering. "I've got no clue but Macarthur never gives you the names of the people we are after but I think you should know this one. It's John Kord. He's no one important but this building is Kord family-owned.

John himself has supposedly reached rank 2 but everyone else in the building should be rank 1." Peter said as he checked for Regius' reaction to the information.

He knew that Macarthur did business with the ten families but that mattered not. Neither of the boys had killed anyone since they started living with Macarthur all that time ago.

They had zero interaction with anyone from the ten families. Regius eyes started to shine with a murderous glint and Peter flinched as the intent to kill started to pervade through Regius's natural aura.

Regius exhaled slowly and turned to Peter as the intent disappeared as naturally as it came. "Then come, brother let's remind the Kord family that they've got a price to pay in blood."

Peter nodded and the two boys stood up. They had matching simple blades in their hands that were simply a solid rectangular bamboo sheath that flowed into a rectangular handle that had the boys' names carved into it. Peter Left the Apple where they were sitting and raised his left hand and as he did both boys walked forward and as they did they began to walk down the side of the building as if it was the ground itself. When they reached the window for the office that took up the entire last floor of the building Regius unsheathed the blade in his hand and with a light tap the whole window melted away like it was ice left in the sun and the boys were in the room and front of their target.

The process had been quick and in turn, gave no one in the room the time to react to the sight of two boys standing upright on the side of their building. They fell into the room at the same time that two guards rushed them from the entrance of the room which was the only access point to the room and was just an elevator.

Mana surged as the guards rushed the two boys. They reached the boys quickly bolstered by a flash of mana that resembled lighting it clung to both guards' skin making them quicker.

As they reached the two though Pete swiped the air downward with one finger as his voice echoed across the room "Concept Spell Tenfold Tunic".

As he said that dark green mana wrapped around the two guards and the gravity around them increased tenfold.

This caused the two guards to be caught off balance as they fought to resist the added weight but at the moment a figure appeared perfectly in the middle of the two of them. Regius spun on the heels of his feet after getting next to the guards and with one perfect motion, his blade cut through both of their necks.

There was a slight sizzle sound and no blood came from either wound as Regius spun facing the man that they had come for. John Kord stood up from his desk and loosened his tie as he looked at the two boys. He showed a toothy grin as he reached the front of his desk and sat back to survey them both.

"So the two of you must be Macarthur's hunting dogs that everyone's been talking about. Let's let this end amicably, I can no longer give him the item but I'll give him the money for it, and let's end this here," said John.

Peter turned to look for Regius and saw everything he needed to. Regius planted his right foot backward, his toes on the ground but his heel off of it. A small red dot was gathering at his heel and he brought his sword up into a two-handed grip. John saw the gathering mana and sighed as he stood straight. He flexed both of his hands and a long black and gold staff appeared in his hands.

"If that's the way Macarthur would like it then fine, I guess I'll have to send Macarthur's belongings back to him in pieces!" John said with a snarl.

The snarl was the shot that started the race and Regius combusted the mana that had gathered and the resulting explosion blew out all of the windows as he shot like a bullet towards John and John leveled his staff at Regius' chest. Green mana coated the staff as it was being swung down in an overhead strike towards where Regius was coming from. Regius met the attack with his blade alight with burning mana and as his blade met the staff the shock spread through the room throwing glass shards around the room. John's eyes focused on Regius as they both held the deadlock.

"It seems that Macarthur deserves the title mad scientist if he's managed two commoner kids into the peak of Rank 1 before they are even 18. The ten families will have to reevaluate the danger that he poses," said John.

At the same time, he pressed forward to break the deadlock releasing a flash wind from his hand holding the staff that sent Regius flying across the room. His momentum stopped by crashing into the wall by the elevator.

"Peter now!" Regius yelled and Peter swept downward with his finger once again.

"Concept spell Twenty Fold Tunic" as Peter's words left his mouth mana swirled around him and then shot towards John wrapping around his chest and becoming what looked like a fluorescent green shirt.

Regius leaped forward once again and the clash continued but it was clear to see that John was much slower. Regius had managed to cut him a couple of times before things changed. John's staff split into two batons that were coming for Regius at 2 different angles. As a rank 1, Regius couldn't store mana within himself so an orb of condensed mana had gathered behind him as he was fighting and at the moment before the other staff could hit him Regius tugged at the orb of mana and yanked out a blade of pure gold mana. John smirked to hide the astonishment of what this boy was doing with mana as a simple rank 1. John tapped the heads of the two batons together as green mana burst from his body and started propelling his arms to insane speeds as he came after Regius once again.

They began to exchange blows at an insane pace, john would suddenly increase his speed and in parrying it the blade of mana shattered, and as it did Regius dodged the baton and yanked at the gathered mana again while this process repeated over and over until the gathered mana seemed to be almost out. At this time both of the boys knew that they were lucky because if this john were a better fighter he would have already tried to use spells to defeat them both. So it was time to act. Regius threw the mana sword and John sidestepped to dodge it and tripped on the shard of an already shattered mana blade.

Peter raised both his hands and started with them at chest height as all the fluorescent green mana he had gathered flew forward and wrapped around John. Then he raised both of his hands above his head and as he did John shot upward, catching him completely off guard and allowing Regius to cut him in half at the waist before kneeling to pant.

Peter walked up to him while he was taking deep breaths of air. " You know if he wasn't so dumb that he didn't use spells then we would have probably lost this. Macarthur is right spells make the difference in fights like this and you are dumb for putting off creating your own. This guy even had an Astra, albeit a pretty shit one but an Astra all the same." I stood up and ignored Peter but he was certainly right.

We had recently been taught about Astra, special weapons that could be used when one reached rank 2 and came in different grades based on the type of Astra core used. The Astra was special in the way that they were nourished by the user's internal mana so one had to be of the second rank and they at the same time existed within the mana space of a mana practitioner.

When the mana practitioner died the Astra would exist as a weapon that other mana users could use. Astra defied all logic and the weapons could reach a point where they were even more destructive than the nuclear weapons that lost their use when the demons proved to be immune to the radiation. Regius stood from where he was initially panting as Peter went to the safe that had been revealed in the destruction.

Peter input the code and popped it open to reveal a small wrapped sack and money. He pocketed the money and threw the sack to Regius who caught it as he stared down at the two halves of John Kord's body before igniting the ambient mana that was still around him and burning his remains to ashes. Regius and Peter walked over to the same window they used for their surprise attack and dropped out of it and into the bustling city beneath them that didn't stop to even look at the young boys falling from the top of a high-rise.