Chapter - 5 : The Shadow at our Feet

'Time Alter - Double Accel'

I dodged the spray of bullets coming towards me with ease with a disinterested look in my eyes and my hands in my trouser's pocket, just somewhat concerned with preventing any holes on my long black trench coat.

She has been at it for the past 15 mins and all her attempts have been fruitless. I can see it in her red eyes and the scowl on her face, she's frustrated at my lack of seriousness and her failure at making it so. Her face is an open book for me to read.

"How long are we gonna keep at it, miss?" As time went back to normal for me.

"Until I make you get serious!" she growled

"Why are you so set on making me take you on seriously? If you would just listen to me..."

"Silence! I must defeat you. Otherwise...for what pur...."

Her last words were just a whisper, too low for me to hear but now I know there is something important that compels her to fight.

She swung her crimson red katana and I would easily manoeuvre around to dodge or parry it with my knife. I threw a pair of knives at her which she deflected with her sword. I closed the distance and locked our blades in a clash and activated my gloves.

Argh! She cried out in pain.

The knives did their job well at reducing her Aura as I made some distance between me and her.

"You and your cheap tricks."

She complains. It was met with deaf ears. All means in battles are available. It is up to the individual how far they are willing to go. Not to mention, these are just whinings of a child. This child is quite strong for her age. Her temper needs a bit of fixing though.

It was time to end this. She's at the end of her Aura as well. She'll probably try to end it with one last attack with all her strength.

"This will be the end!" She announced. Her crimson spear burst out in dark flames as she prepared to launch her last attack. Even her immediate surroundings began to start steaming due to the heat.

"I concur." I gave her a chilling gaze that made her flinch for a moment.

Unlike her, I let put my knives back to their place and slowly began to walk. I know these types of people, who never listen to what the other person has to say unless given a rude awakening. Lost in their own worry and thoughts. It needs to be thorough and overwhelming.

'I'll humour you, little lady. I'll give you a glimpse of me being serious'

"Y-you still mock me! Let's see how you survive this!"

She bolted forward in great speed as she prepared to thrust her blazing spear with all her might.

'Got him!'

'Time Alter - Square Accel'

The world slowed down for me. The undoubtedly powerful attack was just a few feet before me. I could feel the intense heat of the spear ready to hit me. But too bad child, this spear will never reach me.

Pumping my aura into the soles of my feet I blurred in the burst of speed.

Woosh

A swift strike on the back of her neck.

'It's over.'

"Fuu~"

I held her unconscious body. Her blazing spear charred the ground black at where it landed until the flames flickered away after a while. The fire she controls is quite potent and will be devasting if trained correctly.

"It's devastating enough already though." I sweatdropped

There was a still burning crater at the place of the attack along with a couple of charred trees.

'This little lady is a literal walking fire hazard...Not to mention, I'll have to carry her all the way back to her estate?'

I slowly made my way back to the estate with an unconscious girl with platinum hair with a few red streaks, burning red eyes with a slit pupil(It apparently glows when she activated her fire semblance) on my back. But the most distinguishing feature was her two red horns protruding from the top of her forehead, not unlike an Oni from some of the media Esther used to consume. She wore a white kimono or a yukata (can't tell the difference) with red highlights. This girl was quite an exotic beauty. The horns did not retract anything from her beauty but rather enhanced it further. But she was still a brat.

"Who knew there was a Japan in this world as well."

With spring in full bloom, the whole city was filled with cherry blossoms and its petals. The mixture of futuristic and traditional Japanese architecture and aesthetics were I sight to behold. I took my time as I passed by stalls and through the small bridges over the flowing waters.

Bought a popsicle to eat at one of the stalls. The shopkeeper gave me a weird look which I just ignored.

As I enjoyed my walk, I began to think of the series of events that led to this.

-+-+-+-+-+-

Two more years had passed since I unlocked my Semblance and had a battle with my mom which resulted in a draw. I spent countless hours studying the limits of my Semblance and Aura and this was the result. I can stop time for 10 seconds max in one go, draining my aura by 25%. The duration doesn't extend further even if I use ore Aura. I can affect someone else or an object with my time dilations, with objects being way easier than people due to the innate aura resistance all living organisms have.

I can freeze any projectiles mid-flight within a certain radius of me. But affecting people needs physical contact at the time of activation, not to mention a lot of Aura.

As I found previously, It's immensely economical to dilate time only abound my body rather than influencing everything. But it takes a lot of micro and macro mental processes to maintain the coat of time. So the max I can perform is to speed up my time by 5 while 2x is second nature to me now.

In terms of my weapons, I got used to the super sniper and upgraded the Guitar Cannon. I got myself a pair of grey combat boots and further improved my aura control.

I looked through the Library in my house and even the local library and I soon realised that there was hardly any proper guide to Aura at all. Most were just scientific articles that anyone would find extremely tedious to read. So in conclusion, most of the knowledge of Aura was passed down by word of mouth in huntsmen families, while the rest are taught just the basics at their combat school.

It was as if there were elementary level books on Aura and PhD level books on Aura and almost nothing in between and the ones written were not really impressive. As to why this was possible, I have no idea. Maybe It's because they just assume it will be taught at schools and when they attend the Huntsmen Academies.

In the same way, people forget that you can get a degree without even attending a school or college. But even then there are books for those. Maybe it's because being huntsmen is a very specialised career.

So I wrote a book on Aura that would fill this gap which I simply named 'Aura 101: Order in Chaos Vol-1'. I was planning it to be a series of books since I wanted to explain each of the Chapters somewhat thoroughly and easy to understand for an average teen.

It only had 5 chapters because I felt a somewhat thick book would cause teens to avoid it.

The chapters were - Introduction, What is Aura? , How to unlock Aura, Varying Aura Capacity, and Basic Applications.

When I first showed the graft of the book to my parents they were quite shocked. A child just over 10 wrote a book and a pretty decent one? Well, they got over that pretty quickly. They must have gotten used to my antics by now.

Since a child cannot publish their own book I had to go under a pen name and keep my Identity a secret. I now went under the pen name - Chronos. I left everything to my dad to deal with as my interest only went till the publishment of the book. The result was irrelevant. But my father insisted that he will transfer the earning to me when I turn 15 (Apparently we can get most of the adult stuff at 15yrs rather than Earth's 18yrs). I just shrugged in agreement.

A month after my 12th Birthday it was time to meet the Nakiri Family. On my 12th birthday, my parents finally disclosed the secret of our family line.

It was late evening, we were at the opening of the forest near our house sitting on a picnic blanket. We are just sitting and enjoying the breeze as I was reading a book.

"Son, it's time to tell you the Truth of our family."

"I see, about time." I kept the book down after placing a bookmark where I was reading and straightened my back.

"You see, our family..." He seemed to somewhat struggle to utter the next few words.

There was shame and guilt. There was anger and pain. But there was pride as well. I said no word. I just waited.

"Calm down, dear."

My mom spoke in a stern but gentle voice as she held my dad's hand in hers.

"A-ah, thank you, Pearl."

He looked as if he aged a few years in a matter of seconds. He looked at mom for a few seconds as if to draw some strength from her, she just gave him a gentle smile.

"Grey, our family is a line of...Killers." He spoke solemnly, looking straight at me.

"....."

Did he just say...killers? People, who take the lives of other people? Generations and generations of murderers? And...that blood flows through me? The same blood as the one who killed...Esther?

'No.No.No.No.No.No.No.No.No.No.No.NO.NO.NO.NO.NO.NO.NO.'

My parents knew something was wrong with me when they saw I wasn't replying or even responding after my father's reveal. Then they looked into my eyes.

Flinch

'It's those same hollow eyes I saw a long time ago. I need to do something!'

"Grey! Snap out of it! Grey!"

She rocked me back and forth in an attempt to wake me up which eventually worked. I was back from insanity but it didn't make things any easier for me to swallow this truth.

I looked at my father. Took a deep breath and demanded.

"Explain yourself." It was cold. It was hollow. It didn't fit a child at all which made it even more unsettling.

And explain he did. Apparently, it wasn't as bad as I thought, except in the beginning. In his nervousness, my father had a poor choice of words when revealing to me about our family's past.

The Noir Family was initially a line of ruthless killers on hire. They were so infamous in the underworld that no one question their ability to fulfil their mission. And everyone in the profession feared them. For they were the Assassins who hunted Assassins. This continued for many many years until they were employed by the King of Vale for their prowess and gave them a chance to be something greater than a mere contract for hire. They agreed and thus they took on the task of protecting the Kingdom of Vale from the shadows. What they had to do did not differ much from what they previously did, but now it had meaning. It was not for greed or due to someone's hatred, for a noble cause of protecting the people.

This too continued for generations. The Noirs stayed by the Royal family's side as their shadow all the way till the last King of Vale and the greatest war in history. Their contribution was great and tremendous casualties were sustained in the aftermath of the war. For their utmost loyalty and the great contribution that will never be written in the annals of History, the Last King of Vale released them of their centuries of service, erased their already faint existence in the world for them to start over in whatever way they wished. And Lastly, he gave them a sapling. When asked what purpose this sapling was being given to them, the King just smiled and said.

"You are free from your long service. For the I am the Last King of Vale, there will be no more after me. I give this sapling, for it is no simple plant. It will grow in a grand tree in 10 years and a golden fruit will grow from it. After the first fruit is plucked another will grow and be ripe only after a generation. That Fruit will bestow upon the person the strength to make them worthy to wield it."

"You are too kind my lord, we deserve it not."

"How can you not deserve it? I deem thee and thy famil worthy for this blessing. From mere killers, your family has risen up to be something grand. But be wary, only the one who bears the name 'Grey' in your family would be able to withstand the fruit. If I recall only the most blessed and heir of the Family are given that name, is it not, Grey Noir?"

"It is so milord. But it is common that even the Heir is not talented enough to bear that name."

"Fear not, for the tree does not age nor the fruit rot. It shall even wait an eternity for its wielder."

And thus, since then only one Grey had appeared. And that was over 70 years ago. He was the King's close aid.

Our family continued our craft under the cover of being a wealthy farmer. But it was done in even more secrecy and only to purge the world from the filth hidden in the shadows. As the world focused on the manifestation of malice called the Grimm, they focused on the monsters that lurked in every human shadow. They became the necessary evil.

And now I bear the name and everything it carries. I was gasping for air.

'This is unbearably heavy.'