The Strongest Sage

"So much for making it to Drasil in a day." Toan complained to himself as he spit out a famous Torik crab in disgust. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to try seafood again, and it cost me valuable time no less. Then again, maybe it's for the best, I'm technically not allowed in Drasil after all."

He sat atop a Jiroki Co. skyscraper taking in the view of Torik's lively nightlife.

Even at that late hour, Torik was bursting with people and bright lights, Torik was not only the largest and most toured island, but its nightlife was quite famous for being incredibly active and beautiful.

"I hate cities, so crowded and loud... Wait, why am I waiting here? I bet they're missing me to death." Toan said as he leapt from the building only to land on a nearby one, a sequence he would repeat several times to arrive at his destination.

During such a sequence he would see an explosion of pure golden lightning in the distance.

"Rukurai? No, not quite that strong, which means that was Robius, but why release so much Ether? Could he be in trouble?"

Toan then disappeared in a thundering explosion loud enough to shake the whole of Torik.

********

In a fraction of a second Toan reappeared above the ashy remains of Azure Ursine's guildhall.

In that time, he processed the situation before him.

The ground beneath him was covered in mangled corpses and a lot of blood.

Fortunately, he was able to spot his guildmates.

Robius was barely alive and mostly buried in debris.

Okami was dazed and slammed against possibly the last wall in the ruins.

And finally, there was Kukiri who was bravely defending a red-haired girl whom he'd never seen before yet bore the Draconum Familia crest.

However there once another, a man oozing with a sinister aura of malice armed with a longblade of light.

"I see, that's why he expelled so much Ether, luckily he was able to create Mana shields to protect everyone from the blast. Very impressive Robius." Toan deducted in midair with a hint of pride.

Toan used the surrounding Mana to shield his guildmates ears along with the rest of Torik, he had a feeling this fight was gonna be loud, he was a sound sage after all.

He plummeted to the ground at the speed of sound intercepting the sinister figure.

He managed to escape but that didn't matter to Toan at the moment. 

He scooped Kukiri in his arms as he glared at her assailant with furious eyes.

"I suppose this chaos is your doing?" He spoke to the figure in a cold voice as he coddled Kukiri in his arms like a baby.

"Perhaps, why does it matter to you?" Krim spoke as he looked to Toan's location. Yet Toan was now beside Okami as placed Kukiri down by her.

"Okami, can I trust you to do something?" He asked in sign language as she too was deafened by his spell.

'He's fast, I'll need to up my game. No matter, if I need, I can move at the speed of light with my Cloak activated.' Krim thought to himself.

The wolfen girl though dazed, was able to translate Toan's sign language and nodded.

"Get everyone alive out of here."

Okami wanted to argue, she too was a Beta after all, surely, she could help. But she was wise enough to know the gap in their power.

"Got it." She replied in signs.

With a powerful gust of wind Okami left to do as Toan asked, yet Krim wasn't gonna let her go easy as he lunged at her in an instant.

'Heh, the speed of light is eight-hundred seventy-four thousand and thirty times quicker than the speed of sound. He can't even see me.'

Yet Krim couldn't move from his position.

"Did you know everything makes a sound? Breathing, a heartbeat, an ant crawling across a dirt road a thousand miles from here. I have the ability to make anything that creates noise in my presence immediately stop moving. Of course, sound's not that lame of a power, I can also amplify and reduce sound. I can make your innards liquify by the sound of your own heartbeat." Toan said as he approached Krim with his hands in his tailcoat's pockets. "Now that sounds like a thing a bastard like you would do."

Okami quickly gathered everyone, including Cloris from Azure Ursine using her bronze leaves to lift them in the sky before departing north.

The battle between The Strongest Sage in The Orochi Isles and the one who slew an entire guild alone appeared all but won and so Okami could leave without any guilt whatsoever.

********

'I wonder, did that punch do it? Is Krim done for?' I thought to myself as I drifted in the darkness of my subconscious.

'It's odd, I really felt like I hit with everything I had, yet before I passed out, I felt an incredible surge of power.'

Before me shined a brilliant golden mass of power, it couldn't speak yet I felt its words so clearly.

"Power. Like you've never seen. Within grasp. Protect? Destroy? Save? Hurt? You can do it all Robius, you can be a god. Release me again. Let us rule the heavens as I was destined to do."

"Power huh? I'll think about it, but for now I kinda want out of here, so if you don't mind I gotta go, bye." I replied in the midst of picking my nose, leaving the mass of power in a state of confusion. "How does this work even? Do I just pinch myself or something?"

********

My eyes flickered open to see myself back in our suite at the break of dawn, and what's more, I was surrounded by everyone who came with Draconum Familia for the ceremony. Except Kenki who was nowhere to be seen.

"We heard what happened." Jex said with a fiery hatred in his eyes. "It's my fault, they were retaliating. They must've thought Azure Ursine were killing the Smilers when in truth it was me."

"We also heard what you did, expending that much Ether isn't smart. You're lucky you didn't die." Aceil spoke as even he was at my bedside.

"Maybe not that lucky, he'll never be able to cast again. I'm sorry Robius." Nosora said bluntly.

"It's true, I've seen it before, if someone uses all of their Ether at once and somehow survives, they are virtually nulls after." Lilac said adding on to the bad news.

I stared at my broken hand which was now just barely in agony.

If what they said was true, I really couldn't use magic anymore.

The thought was grim to be sure, yet I didn't feel like it was true.

"Oh." I then placed my hand on Aceil's shoulder and shocked him with enough force to knock out an elephant sending him to the ground completely unconscious. "Seems to be working fine though."

Silence overtook the room, even Okami was silent. Silently molesting Shade that it.

Master Pops cleared his throat to break the ice. 

"You should probably still rest up; our retaliation will commence soon. We had to withdraw from the ceremony but now we should be able to focus solely on Lunastray. For Tuma's sake we will stop the Smilers. Which reminds me, Kin of Bestia and Specialty Maid are gonna be aiding us, along with The Golden Chariot. However, the former two will be occupied with protecting Mr. Jiroki." Master Pops said in a serious voice.

After fighting Krim I had to admit that fighting the rest of the Smilers was a foreboding thought. But I knew they had to be stopped, I saw what they did.

"Where's Kenki? And that other girl?" I asked. "And what about Krim?"

"Cloris is sleeping in Okami's room, Kenki has been in her own room since Okami brought you back. As far as I know Krim the Smiler that attack Azure Ursine and the second in command Smiler is currently battling Toan." Master Pops explained. 

I stood from my bed and performed a nice stretch before stepping over Aceil's twitching body.

"If Toan's on the job I knew it'll be over soon, kinda wish I was able to see him though. Whatever, I'm gonna check on Kenki, she wasn't doing so good back at Azure Ursine." I spoke as I left the crowded room in the next second.

"I wouldn't, she's not gonna be herself." Nosora said, but I was already gone.

********

Kenki's room was devoid of all light other than that which crept through the closed curtains on her window.

Her jacket was resting on the back of a chair as she laid in her bed facing away from me.

"Hey Kenki, you alright? I heard we're gonna take the fight to those bastards. Are you looking forward to it?" I said not realizing that I should've had a plan before walking in.

"Just go Robius, I don't wanna deal with you right now." She replied coldly, her voice soft and faint.

"You know you have us now, right? We're your family, we won't ever abandon you. Family doesn't turn away from one another especially in times like this." I offered, trying to bring up her spirits. 

She turned to me in a flash, her teary emerald eyes reflected the limited light to look as though they were glowing.

"Is that what they did!? Azure Ursine abandoned me!? No, they're dead! My family is dead, killed by one man!"

"That's why you need us, your new family-" I continued.

"So, they don't matter because I have you guys now? I can just throw away seventeen years of my life because I'm surrounded by a bunch of morons, perverts and drama queens with power." She snapped at me with fury.

"I... I thought you liked it here." I said, as I recalled how determined everyone at Azure Ursine was to make her happy.

"Of course, you did. I swear you're like the needy little brother I never wanted, only ten times dumber. I should've never accepted your damn invitation. I should've just begged Master Tuma to take me back, it would've been less embarrassing then being affiliated with you guys." She finished as she laid back down in her bed leaving me speechless.

"Kenki I... that can't be what you really. Never mind. Sleep well Kenki. I hope you feel better soon, if you are serious, I'll help you find another job." I said as I left the room and gently closed the door behind me.

I stood on our balcony staring out at Drasil as I clenched my hand into a fist.

"I promise you Kenki, the Smilers will pay for what they did. No matter what."