The Village Disciples

BEFORE THE SIGNAL

Back with Naderamu and Tanjo, they can still be seen sitting on the top of the same roof. Neither of the two was speaking, a questioning look was visible on Naderamu's features, but a look of fear made itself known on Tanjo's.

"What the hell is an aura amalgamation?" Naderamu suddenly queries, breaking the pregnant silence that took place.

Tanjo couldn't muster up any words, he only had a dearth of knowledge about his condition. So, in response to Naderamu's question, he said, "Uhm, uh."

Naderamu's brow rose in impatience, expecting an answer from the currently stammering teenager in front of her. "Well?" She further pushed her question.

In the middle of Tanjo's floundering, a shadow was seen traveling throughout the rooftop the duo was currently standing on. Taking the shape of an arrow.

Naderamu's eyes widened, making her eyes nearly look like they were bulging out of her head, then snapping her head towards the sky.

"THE SIGNAL!" Naderamu shouted, making Tanjo flinch from the sudden noise, but also making him look up towards the sky.

The signal arrow has been shot.

"Let's go, we don't want to be of no assistance!" Naderamu stated urgently, then proceeded to jump off of the side of the building, landing on a set of old and withering stairs, eliciting a loud crack upon landing.

Tanjo could only follow her in the same direction, attempting to disrupt the earlier conversation from being in his head.

'Leave it for future me to deal with.'

XXX

"See anyone yet?" Akogare asked, facing towards Sukudo.

Sukudo could be seen kneeling behind another one of the old western buildings of wood. Behind the building, he had his eyes closed, appearing to be in thought, but in reality-- he was in the air.

"No, no one yet." Sukudo monotonously responded, getting an annoyed grunt from Akogare.

Within Sukudo's second set of peripherals, he scanned over the training field with the soaring magic hawks. Looking through the eyes of his hawks, everything was blue. Almost as if he was looking around with glasses that were tinted of the color blue.

"Shouldn't we just be waiting for the signal like the others?" Akogare questioned, adorning a look of curiosity.

"We shouldn't be relying on them this heavily. If we don't get some sort of signal, that already would drastically raze our chances at winning." Sukudo explained.

Akogare then turned his head, seemingly looking for something new. As Sukudo continued his search with his magic-filled hawks and Akogare mindlessly gazing about, they failed to hear the sound of heavy stomping footsteps nearing them.

Akogare then turned his gaze from wherever it was currently and only saw red.

'Huh.' Akogare silently questioned, stumped as to what was blocking his view.

Looking up, Akogare noticed what was blocking his view. A humanoid figure cased in red armor--hiding every single part of their body-- way taller than himself, as well as the glaring orange hues, flashing out of the suits' eyeholes, resembling its eyes.

'Oh.' Akogare mindlessly responded to the new figure before him, then realizing the situation. 'OH!'

A huge red fist was then seen being pushed towards Akogare, the sun making the red fist gleam. Akogare barely dodged the incoming fist, getting grazed and feeling the armor.

'Ow! It burns!' He mentally noted, feeling a tiny singe of heat on his cheek. After jumping to the side and rolling back into a standing position, he called out to Sukudo,

"SUKUDO, SOMEONE IS HERE!" Akogare alerted his teammate, making Sukudo come back to his body's actual location.

Sukudo almost immediately spotted the hunk of armor engaging in battle against Akogare, making him come up with a very rational and genius plan to combat the dangerous situation.

"RUN!"

Akogare didn't need Sukudo to repeat himself as they were both already running throughout the training field, constantly hearing the heavy footsteps of their enemy chasing after them.

As the duo was running from the red giant, they spotted a building with its front doors creaked open. Taking that chance, they hauled their asses into the building, taking refuge behind a counter inside.

*SMASH*

The duo heard one of the buildings' walls get pummeled into pieces, creating an entranceway for the red enemy. Loud thuds could be heard, signifying the red giants' footsteps.

Sukudo quickly devised a plan, creating a blue magic-filled hawk in front of him, he then let the bird loose and fly about inside the building rambunctiously. As shelved items, tables, and any interior decor get destroyed or knocked off their original spots, it created a diversion for the duo as the red giant turned away and noticed the hawk.

The duo then ran out of the building through the hole that was left by the enemy when he previously barged through the wall.

"What do we do now!?" Akogare hastily questioned Sukudo, looking back to see if they were being chased. Sure enough, he saw the red giant walking out of the building and holding the magic-filled hawk made by Sukudo, snapping its neck and making the hawk dissipate.

'EEEH' Akogare silently squealed, fear rooting itself within him once again.

"For now, all we can do is outrun him. This is why we shouldn't have just merely waited for a signal." Sukudo explained, ending it with a complaint.

"Let's just hope that the others are alright."

XXX

Resuming to where Naderamu and Tanjo were, we see them running in the training field. Both of them are heading in the direction that they spotted Meisei's magic arrow.

"It should be just up here," Naderamu informed, Tanjo only nodded in response-- not that Naderamu was paying attention to him currently anyways.

After running for some time, the duo finally reached their destination-- but no one was there. Both Tanjo and Naderamu looked around, not spotting a single person nearby.

"Where the hell did they go?" Tanjo questioned, looking over to Naderamu.

"How would I know? My only guess is that they saw something and went after it, or maybe even chased off. Either way, we're lost without them." Naderamu responded to Tanjo's question.

Then Tanjo walked to the side of the building that Meisei and Utsukushi were assumingly on, noticing multiple craters in the ground; seeming indicating explosives of sorts.

"What the hell?" Tanjo stated, dumbfounded.

"What?" Naderamu asked Tanjo, walking over to Tanjo, and noticed what Tanjo was looking at. "Oh."

XXX

Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry if I haven't been increasingly active. I've been thinking about how I could make the story progress. Stay tuned for more!

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_