Ch 9 - ENCOUNTER WITH KYUTA NOBARA
Steel rang off stone as spears and shields collided. Tako shoved a guard away, breath burning. Makio scrambled to her feet.
From the center of the chaos, Koto moved like a different man — calm, precise, almost amused. He struck once, and a spear flew harmlessly aside; he struck again, and a soldier crumpled, out cold.
Tako stared, incredulous. "Koto—how are you doing that?" Tako gasped.
Koto wiped blood from his knuckles and grinned, half-joking. "You never asked the right questions, Tako." He winked at Makio with a cheeky smirk that almost broke the tension.
Makio, panting, barked over the clamor, "You don't know him. He used to teach martial arts—black belt, master level. Funny, a bit of a pervert, but deadly up close." Her voice held both warning and relief.
Koto laughed, then stiffened as the air shifted. A cold voice said, "Who dares?" A man in a black coat stepped forward, staff crowned with a crimson stone. Spears froze mid-flight.
Kyuta's red-eyed smile widened. With a single motion he hurled them back with telekinesis, then unleashed a high-decibel shock that rattled their bones.
Cliffhanger: they almost died but the timer ended at the time and they returned badly injured