His laugh echoed across the crossroad.
Silence renegaded from people's peace within their self.
Anaphol's hand rested atop the severed neck of Bulwark. His laughter was not contagious. Rather threatening.
A sight painted in the red and gold of the sunset stood in this particular crossroad of Central Monite.
He faced up and laughed away. Immediately, he stared without moving his head at the couple of people coming towards him from the fountain in the center.
'And so it begins.' Naph shook his head as he closed his eyes.
Right after, he opened them and staring forward at the duo approaching him. He thought 'cata' with intent fixed on the two.
The duo dressed in blazers and wore cloth sheets around their legs like a skirt but wrapped aesthetically, suddenly stopped in their tracks. Both the duo's feet suddenly left the pavement they were standing on.
It seemed to others in the crossroad that the duo were floating. People began pointing to the duo than the boy they were walking towards. Some called out to their neighbours in screams.
While the duo rather than flailing around kept their body as it was, after reaching a couple of metres high in the air a soft glow began to envelop them. It pulsed around their entire body.
Pulses frantically increased. A crashing sound echoed as the duo dropped down back on the pavement.
Not even seconds had passed and Naph had pushed his ride to his right a couple of feet away.
He reached the duo in the time it took them to drop down. His double daggers aimed at their heads.
Diving out of the daggers path, the two men dug their hands into their blazers pocket.
"Cata," Naph spoke.
A kaleidoscopic space made itself aware to the two men. One closed his eyes, while the other's dilated.
For the split second that the space descended, Anaphol turned on his heel. Kicking the one on his left.
He began a sprint back to his ride.
The man whose eyes were dilated, vomited blood. He grabbed on his mouth and his entire arm glowed with a soft green light that enthused his surroundings.
The other man stood up, having drawn out a blade bigger than what could be stored in any normal blazer pocket.
"Clever tricks. Not going to get you far still." Said the man ready to attack Naph's back.
Skidding to the left of his ride, Naph turned to face the blade.
Slaming both of his daggers into the blade driving against its sharp edge. He spoke, "Ca."
With an intent driven thought, 'ta.'
The man jumped back before Naph's thought was over but he left his blade there in the air. Now, it was forever stuck in that position.
Naph drew back his daggers. "So, you also know of cata."
He stepped out of the blade's slow advance, as he also moved his ride behind him.
The crowd in the center had cleared out the crossroad, leaving the three near the fountain.
People rushed out of the crossroad while a select few stepped in through the thick of crowd.
Nodding the man circled to Naph's left. Meanwhile, the man who vomited had somehow recovered, but one of his eyes became drenched in blood.
"Let me know your names, before you wash up." Naph turned his head slightly, making another road in his peripheral to come into direct view. The man tilted his head in response.
"Would that really matter?! That does not guarantee of anyone saving Sevenren!" Cut the man on the ground with a bloodied red eye.
"Heh. Sure. Not so equal." Naph shrugged to the other man's outburst.
Huffing the man on the ground stood up, one knee at a time. "Equal?! That's what you have to say?"
Kicking his ride a bit back, Naph brought up both of his daggers to be at the ready.
His suspicion became clear, for both the men rushed forward with agility that was superhuman entirely.
Naph spoke, "Ca," and involuntarily thought 'ta.' He rushed forward to meet the two with his own momentum raised higher than what he could have achieved on his own.
For either parties, it was less than a step away to slit their opponents. Yet, for the rare few who watched the battle, they could not believe that three people covered distances several times over their stride within split second.
Naph drew his left dagger in a wide offensive arc, and the right went for selective stabs. The first man lost his blazer's left sleeve. The other man with the bloodied red eye stepped back to the side avoiding the stab at his abdomen.
Anaphol jumped back closer to his ride.
Crouching down, he kept both in his vision. Without any warning, a glowing ball of white reached a foot away from Naph's left cheek. Catching it in his peripherals.
He ducked down, as he stabbed up at the ball. "Ca," he spoke with a following thought 'ta.'
His stab went into the ball. Yet the ball exploded in irregular manner, but it was still caught in the effect of Naph's attack. The explosion itself imploded coming into one once again.
He felt his face warming and cooling down rapidly. Naph couldn't get what just happened, but one thing became clear.
This attack is no more a one against two. 'I did not feel any gaze. And I could not have predicted this coming. Damn it!' He twisted mid-air.
Landing on his feet and knees, he stood up fast and brisk walked to his ride. He thought he brisk walked, he felt it wasn't.
A lustrous haze spread at the space where the glowing ball nearly reached Naph. That haze separated the attacking two men from Naph.
Both of the men, kept their distance evaluating their first encounter with the boy.
"What do you think why we are here?" a voice cut across the crossroad.
Anaphol keeping the two men in sight and Bulwark to his left, shifted slightly to look at the direction the voice came from.
The fountain of four-headed bull rested in the direction. A silhouette drawn in the gold sunset water of the fountain hinted at a person beyond it.