Kaito stood frozen. The water-spear held at his throat was vibrating with high-pressure energy, humming like a swarm of angry hornets. He could feel the cold mist coming off the blade, dampening his clothes and chilling his skin.
The Tide-Hunter, a woman with hair the color of deep-sea kelp and eyes of piercing silver, didn't move. "You are the one the Flame General is screaming about," she said. "The 'Dud' with the Shadow Ring. My orders are simple: The Ring must be returned to the depths. You are optional."
The Powerless Warrior
Kaito gripped his fists, but he felt nothing. His internal fire was dead—extinguished by the damp air of the Whispering Woods. Without his smithing hammer or a forge, he was just a boy against a master of the Aqua Style.
"I can't fight her," Kaito whispered, his heart hammering. "I don't have the elements."
"Of course you don't, you fool," Kage's voice roared in his mind, dripping with mockery. "You were born a 'Dud' because your bloodline is a cage. But I am the key."
The Possession
The Ring on Kaito's finger flared with a violent, jagged violet light. Kaito's arm suddenly moved on its own, batting the water-spear aside with a speed that cracked the air.
"What is this?" the Hunter gasped, lunging forward.
"Take it!" Kage shouted. "My Thunder is not a flame you light. it is a strike you receive!"
A massive surge of blue electricity bolted from the Ring directly into Kaito's veins. It wasn't Kaito's power; it was Kage lending his mastery. Kaito's muscles spasmed as the foreign energy forced his body to move.
The Friction Strike
The Tide-Hunter unleashed a "Tidal Wave"—a literal wall of water meant to crush Kaito's ribs.
Kage forced Kaito's body to spin. The friction of Kaito's boots against the wet grass, combined with Kage's blue-black lightning, turned Kaito into a human centrifuge. As the water hit him, it didn't splash—it vaporized.
"You're not weaving!" the Hunter cried, her calm finally breaking. "You're... you're tearing the molecules apart!"
Kaito felt like his body was being ripped in half. His eyes were wide and white as Kage steered his hand forward. Kaito's palm slammed into the Hunter's chest-plate. A massive discharge of static electricity exploded outward, throwing the woman through three cedar trees before she hit the ground, her armor steaming.
The Price of Borrowed Power
The lightning faded. Kaito collapsed to his knees, his right arm smoking and completely numb. The Ring went dark, retreating back under his skin.
"Why..." Kaito panted, coughing up a bit of ash. "Why didn't you let me do it?"
"Because you would have died in three seconds," Kage hissed, his voice sounding exhausted. "My Thunder is too 'heavy' for your weak human nerves. Every time I lend you my style, your body breaks a little more. If you want to survive, you must learn to strengthen the vessel... or find the others."
Kaito looked at the unconscious Tide-Hunter. He had won, but he felt more like a puppet than a hero. He realized that if he didn't learn to control Kage's power, the God would eventually burn him from the inside out.