Chapter Eighteen

"Ugh!"

Tremors went through Kyle's body when he stepped to the ground. Everything was shaking terribly as if a catastrophe is in progress.

In order to balance himself, the youth circulated his energy throughout his body and enhanced it.

This allowed him to stand more stably compared to seconds earlier.

He glanced over his surrounding to find himself standing in front of a massive gate. Inside the gate was a city engulfed in chaos and disorder.

The earthquake caused buildings upon buildings to crack and fall like they were crackers, and various voices were intertwined to create a disharmony of chaos.

[Boom!]

"What?!"

Explosions upon explosions rang out one after another, sending shockwaves and flames everywhere. The scorching heat stung Kyle's skin, proof of its blazing temperature.

The arrogant youth used both of his hands to protect himself from the after-effects, reducing the impact that would have hit his face otherwise.

Through the exposed gaps, it was as if behemoths of flame formed on every corner of the city. These "behemoths" moved as if someone was controlling them, devouring the buildings and lives of people nearby.

'No, these flames are really being controlled by someone! They are controlling it in a way that would make it spread the fastest in a short period of time!'

These flames extended their fire as if it was their limbs, multiplying their presence throughout the chaotic city. And these fires vaguely resembled a humanoid figure.

He could smell the charcoal-like scent from the air. It was mixed with other putrid scents, tormenting the human nose.

"Akh!" A voice resounded behind him.

Trying not to fall from the excessive shaking, Kyle turned around and searched for the source of the noise.

He then spotted a person, being tossed around by the ground itself. His voice was very familiar, so the arrogant youth made his way towards him.

But the tremors from the ground were too excessive, it took him a massive amount of effort to not lose his balance, much more making his way to the other party.

And to make things worse, cracks started to form on the ground.

[Crack][Crack!]

Kyle looked down to the ground and found "spiderwebs" forming on it. It split the ground itself into many pieces, forming a massive danger sign in his mind.

"W-what i-in t-the wo-world is h-happening?!" He almost bit his tongue.

'Much less him, even I will die at this rate!'

With the shakings from below obstructing his actions, Kyle fumbled his way away from danger.

He bit his tongue while trying to escape, leaving some sweet metal-like taste in his mouth.

"Faghk!" Kyle searched for ways to get to safety while avoiding the earth that had begun to split below him, it would be fatal for him to fall into one of these cracks.

'Damn it!'

He decided to throw caution into the wind and focused his energy on his legs. The muscles on his legs squirmed and expanded, giving the sensation of strength.

'If standing upright isn't an option, then why not just jump to the air!'

Gritting his teeth in pain, Kyle forced his legs to eject himself into the air.

The youth was lifted several meters to the air. But in return, blood started to flow on his legs.

Subconsciously, he screamed in agony from the burning sensation on his legs. He had miscalculated the amount of energy to use and injured his legs in the process.

It was obvious to see the flaws of energy throughout this display. Controlling it is a hard task, and every mistake will definitely cost its users.

Recognizing his failure, Kyle clenched his fists and decided to continue searching for safety.

He desperately swung his head mid-air in order to find help, but it was for naught. To his plight, another explosion came from the city, pricking his body and disturbing his train of thoughts.

"Kyle!"

In this moment of distress, a shout came from below. He rapidly turned his head and stared at the surface, finding a familiar face from it.

"Karan!"

The man that was being tossed around earlier must've been him. His clothes were ripped in various places and blood streamed down his body. The ground was also shaking his body up and down, but the baby-faced man managed to anchor himself to the ground.

Karan's face was one of panic and relief. It seemed that he found hope in seeing Kyle here. However, the arrogant youth had conflicting feelings about meeting him.

He didn't really care about the baby-faced man, but he felt very anxious about Karan's safety at the same time.

It was as if his heart was split into two, one of the arrogant Kyle and the Kyle who occupied this body before him.

This feeling alerted him greatly. Not only were his emotions going out of control, even his body is moving on its own to reach Karan.

"No!" This distracted Kyle to the point where he only had a second before he fell to the ground.

He had failed to find a place for safety and instead had wasted almost all of it just spinning in the air. In exasperation, he circulated his energy and made sure not to repeat the same mistake as last time.

When he landed on the ground, Kyle dashed towards the baby-faced man. He dodged the various cracks on the surface and moved while enhancing his body.

Even though he almost tripped multiple times, he managed to reach Karan in almost an instant.

Upon reaching him, Kyle grabbed his hands and dragged him away from the spot he was standing at.

Crack was beginning to form there, and it split into parts, as if the earth was trying to devour them.

The youth yelled at Karan, "Find somewhere for us to go!"

Kyle was running out of ideas. The city in front of him have basically turned into a hell on earth, and the earthquake seemed as if it could continue for another hour.

"I-I'll try my best!" Karan spoke.

But then, the shakings from the ground stopped abruptly. It was as if they were hallucinating earlier, for the surface was now still and steady.

"The earthquake stopped?" Karan spoke in confusion.

The two men looked below in puzzlement before they heard another huge boom from the city. Kyle stopped his daydream and turned his head to the person beside him.

"Did she bring you here?"

"Yeah, Loine came out of nowhere and just left me here," the baby-faced man spoke.

Kyle reverted his gaze back to the city and spoke hastily, "Did she tell you anything regarding this?"

"Of course not. If anything, she is as clueless as we are."

The youth hmphed in response and stared at the collapsing buildings. It was almost a given that the place they stayed before was also a part of this burning place.

Their pupils reflected the sky-high flames inside the gates.

"Oh, some rats flew to this place, I see."

"…!" A deep voice came from their backs, Karan and Kyle turned their heads in unison and found a person covered in a black robe.

The fire inside the city highlighted his cloak, but it didn't reveal his face whatsoever.

Even though both of them didn't know him, they assumed a combative posture immediately. The person in black appeared to be amused and spoke, "Woah there, no need to be so violent now?"

"Did you expect for both of us to welcome you with what you spoke of earlier?" Even though he appeared calm outside, Kyle's mind was not so calm.

He wasn't equipped with any artifacts, which was his main source of power in battles.

'Not only that, he must've had something to do with this mess. His uncanny appearance wouldn't make sense if he wasn't related to it.'

No one in their right mind would wear a full-body robe for no reason. His whole appearance screamed the word "suspicious."

"Hahaha! I forgot about that," the robed person spoke.

Even though both of them couldn't see his face, Kyle could imagine a big smirk present inside that black robe.

Clicking his tongue, he took a glance at Karan.

The baby-faced man wore a serious expression, and his eyebrows were furrowed together. With a frown still on his face, Karan spoke.

"Be careful, I can feel the oppression of Authority from him."

'Oppression of Authority?' Kyle gritted his teeth at the unfamiliar word. He wanted to curse at his lack of information and Karan's lack of understanding.

The arrogant youth felt something stinging his eyes and closed them. But when he opened them back, he wasn't able to spot the robed man. Flustered, he swept his eyes all over the place to find him.

"Done talking?"

Without any warning, a deep voice whispered beside their ears. Both of them widened their eyes and leaped away, escaping from the robed man.

With another laugh, he brought his fist forward and clenched it.

After nothing happened, Karan spoke.

"…What are you going to do?"

"Of course—" he opened his palm. "—kill both of you."

He was gone again.