Free Age of Darkness by Brandon Chen Page B

Keimaro’s speed.
However, what happened next was something that surprised Keimaro entirely.
    Tobimaru swung around without any warning
and slammed his fist solidly into Keimaro’s face as if he were able to know
exactly where to hit before the boy had even attacked. The fist sank solidly
into Keimaro’s face, stopping his swing entirely. He flew backward, hitting the
apple tree’s trunk with a heavy thump. Tobimaru looked at Keimaro for a moment
longer before smiling and turning away, vanishing directly before his eyes.
    Keimaro stared at the place where Tobimaru
had been only a second before. That guy … he had red eyes. They were demonic and
filled with hatred, just like the way Aika had described the Shokugan. Keimaro thought
he might have used it during his brief fight against the guard outside Yata’s
cell, but he had never actually seen what it looked like. Was it possible that
this Tobimaru person was actually also a member of the Hayashi clan? And how
had he disappeared? Was that another form of magic?
    “Gah!” the white-haired man grunted
suddenly, staggering backward, and Yata fell to the ground. There was a bruise
on the side of the white-haired man’s face from a heavy blow. He raised an
eyebrow, turning toward Yata with a snarl. “You annoying bastard….”
    Yata’s skin had transformed from its flesh
into a shining metal that reflected the moon’s light. He glanced at his own
body and blinked a few times in disbelief. “What is going on?” he muttered,
clenching his fists and chuckling lightly. “I don’t know what this is, but I
like it.”
    He leapt forward and swung his fist into
the white-haired man’s face. “Kei! Get Aika and head after that other guy! He’s
going to go and assassinate the elders. I think the meteor did something to us,
but there’s no time to figure it out! You need to head there and stop that guy
right now! Otherwise, everyone in Bakaara is dead; you hear me? I’ll hold this
old man off!”
    The white-haired man worked his jaw,
cracking his neck to the side with a broad grin. He swung his fist, conjuring a
burst of concentrated wind that swept forward and slammed into Yata. The wind
shook the apple tree to its core, and the leaves began to fall off into the
air. Keimaro braced his arms in front of him as the wind struck him like a
cannon, blowing his hair back and flapping his shirt everywhere. He grunted,
closing his eyes to protect himself from the wind.
    When the wind calmed, Keimaro opened his
eyes and stared at the two super-humans fighting like gods, obliterating the
earth with their supernatural powers. It seemed that Yata’s newly developed
powers were rather easy to control, consisting of nothing but punching.
However, the white-haired man was using advanced techniques that involved
controlling the wind from different angles and concentrating the amount of
pressure that he used with each blow. The attacks didn’t seem to be doing
substantial damage to Yata because of his metal-like body, but Keimaro could
tell that this man had gotten his powers the same way Yata had—from some alien
source.
    But, since Yata had obtained new powers,
did that mean that Keimaro and Aika had gained some from the blast as well? It
was quite possible. But when would he be able to use them? And would the powers
be the same as Yata’s or different? This was his wish coming true: a foreign
power was now sweeping over him and would grant him his ability to become
strong. Was he supposed to be happy at this moment? Happy that he had now
achieved power? Or should he be sad that a rogue was entering the ward with the
intention of bringing it down, thus killing everyone Keimaro had ever known?
    Keimaro reached down and picked up Aika
like he would an innocent child. He glanced toward the two men fighting and saw
their battle raging with Yata constantly swinging his fists and the
white-haired man throwing his harmless gusts of wind at the metal boy. The
battle was stagnant, but Yata