I gulped. This will be my first official fight against an awakened one as strong as the Klein brother. Glancing at the other three, my eyes carefully scanned their injures and their breathing. Biting my lip, I tugged the hood over my head more. Kain and his father seem to be the only ones around with red hair, if even a strand were to be seen, it wouldn't be surprising if they realized I was Kain. But with his reputation, there's a chance they wouldn't think of Kain, except Jiwoo of course.
"Hah, how annoying" I flinched hearing the brother's low angry tone, appearing in front of Subin, his fire attribute covered the hand about to grab her face. Shit! He's too fast! I thought, extending my hand towards the Klein brother, about to use the lightening as a long-range attack until I remembered, my aim sucks. It could hit Subin with how close he is to her. Just then, I felt a breeze pass by me. Jiwoo hopped into the air, his right hand balled into a fist as he tried to punch the brother just for the man to catch his attack. "You annoyed me the most" He commented, leaping forward to grab jiwoo who easily dodged. Except the fire instead followed Jiwoo, aiming for his legs.
My eyes widened. "With your speed you must've been able to overpower opponents with similar levels of combat skill but when the opponent is much stronger or has significantly more experience than you-" The brother started. Knowing what he was going to do, I panicked. He'll hurt Jiwoo.
Without another thought, my power once again enhanced my leg muscles, allowing me to jump right in front of the Klein brother within a second, using my left leg to kick his face. As expected, he caught my ankle just like he did with Jiwoo. I clenched my jaw, bending back onto my hands, using my free leg to launch a hard kick with my heel under his chin. The electric attribute once again crackling at the same time then exploding upon impact, sending the Klein brother flying back again. He let go of my other leg, allowing me to spin on my hands then stand straight on my feet. Letting out a shaking breath. Thanks to my spars against my hyung, things like catching my punches or kicks never faze me any more. There's always a way to counter attack, so long as you don't miss that chance and never hesitate.
"Shit! Jiwoo!" I yelled when I felt the Klein brothers power hardly stop despite my interference. Spinning around, the power exploded against Jiwoo. I clenched my jaw. He still ended up getting hurt! I should've grabbed Jiwoo instead of attacking the brother instead! "Argh!" He yelped, falling to the ground with burns on his body, even the uniform her wore sizzled with ash. I ran to him, kneeling down. "I'm sorry, I thought-" Jiwoo was silent, looking just at me. "Who are you?' He asked, the sight of the Klein brother easily being pushed back not leaving his mind despite the pain he was in. I gulped. "It's Kain" I whispered. He relaxed hearing my voice. "Hyung" he smiled after learning it was me.
I bit my lip. Seriously? You're smiling right now you idiot?! "What the hell kind of marital arts was that?" Subin commented, also in shock of the scene she just watched play out before her. Even Jisuk was taken aback. "I have no idea. Is he some vigilante or something?" He asked, both looking to see the said vigilante still conversing with Jiwoo. "Jiwoo!" But their thoughts were washed away when they saw the brother behind the Oni masked man, his flaming hand about ready to hit me behind the head. "Hyung!" Jiwoo yelled, reaching up to pull me down when I ducked down myself, reaching up and grabbing his wrist and shoulder, then using the same muscle enhancement in my legs, jumping up and kneeing his elbow as hard as I could when everyone heard a snap. "Ahhhhh!!" They all stopped hearing the Klein brother yell of agony. I was pissed. He hurt Jiwoo in front of me? How fucking dare he?!
"Ow" I shook my right hand that held the brothers wrist, feeling the immense burning seeping under my skin. It felt like my hand was on fire, even moving it felt like thousands of needles poking my hand. Furrowing my brows, I looked down to Jiwoo whose whole body had been burnt. He still fought despite this insane amount of pain? For some reason, I kept getting even more mad each time I realized how much Jiwoo truly suffers throughout this story.
In drawing, it seemed like nothing because it's simply made for entertainment but as I stand here, in the middle of one of these fights Jiwoo will win but return completely hurt, its clear he'll continue to suffer through worse pain. I winced, remembering the one arc coming up in the future. Jiwoo will be in worse shape than ever, whether I like it or not, it's for him to grow stronger. Turning around and glaring at the brother also glaring at me, I want to lessen his pain, as much as I possibly can.
"Attack him! Stop standing there dumbfounded!" I yelled, feeling my power still draining. I can move at least another dozen times and attack six times before I run out of my ability. Subin flinched, remembering their situation and aimed her ice at the Klein brother, shooting out sharp icicles. The brother used his intact good arm, his power increasing in his left as he basically threw a fireball in Subins direction, easily melting her ice and pushed through to attack her as she built an ice shield just in time.
BOOM! The impact reverberated around us, even I was shocked she could take on a powerful attack like that. "Subin!" Jiwoo yelled, going to get up but halted when his whole body basically screamed in pain. The brother then slowly walked towards Subin, knowing well his own body isn't well since he couldn't use his power fully. Then, his sights laid on Subin. Feeling his bloodlust, Subin shot out as much ice as she could just to have the man dodge it, preparing to attack her for good when a gust of sharp wind aimed right at him. He used his left arm to block it, although taking on some more light damage again.
Slash! "Ugh!" He let his guard down as Subin created her signature ice daggers, slashing his torso. "How dare you?!" He yelled, enraged as he punched Subin in the face only for her to block it, skidding a few meters back.
He aimed his knee kick right in her face again, expecting to feel the impact but it never came, Subin opened her eyes seeing me having grabbed the brother by his hair and threw him to the ground. My hand had a red electric current dancing around my fingers. Using at least 5 charges of what should make up 5 attacks into one, estimated, 100 million volts. Without giving him time to realize I just yanked him by the hair, I pressed my hand onto his chest, feeling it burn as the electricity electrocuted the Klein brother. "Ahhhhhhgh!!!" He yelled out, feeling the crackles exploding within his body as well as the burning currents in his very veins. As if lava was roughly flowing through his body.
"Haaah haaah haaaah" I panted, falling to my knees after the Klein brother sizzled on the ground. Now I only had enough power for one attack of 17,000 volts and one quick get away if need be. Perhaps I did use too much of it. My vision slightly blurred and my body grew weak almost immediately after. It's not used to extorting that much of my ability at once let alone able to handle 1/3 of the total amount of lightning volts. Knowing this, I thought of both Kayden and my hyung as absolutely amazing. They could create lightening with a snap of their fingers. Yet I was burned by my own electric power with a simple 100 mil voltage charge.
"You're a strong one, I'll give you that" My breath hitched then a burning hand clasped around my throat. "Shit-!" I yelped, feeling him clench, burning my skin as his ability powered up more. I opened my mouth, wanting to scream as the pain only doubled, tripled, quadrupled every second that passed. Clenching my teeth, I dug my foot into his broken arm, debating if I should use the last bit of my power to escape. But my original plan was to save it to give to Jiwoo at the end in case he didn't go down after my attack. Turns out, he's a lot sturdier than I thought.
"Suppressing your screams will do you no good" He made his power turn hotter and hotter, also trying to ignore my shoe crunching his already broken bones. "I'll burn your head off!" "Arghh!!" Finally I let out a groan when his fire consumed my entire head, feeling my mask started to crumble as well as my hood starting to turn to ash. Shit! If this happens, Subin and Jisuk will know!
"Fuck off!!" Suddenly, a gust of wind mixed wit sharp ice hit the Klein brother, making his drop me in order to block off the attack. Tears fell down my cheeks, it hurt way more than I could have imagined. Just breathing now burned, let alone turning my face to look at Jiwoo whose eyes were wide in horror. Thankfully, because I'm awakened, the heat didn't damage my face at all. It just hurt like hell because his power seeped into my skin.
Subin then went in for another attack, both engaged in a bit of close combat until it happened anyways. Subin was kneed against a wall so hard, she became unable to move any longer, passed out momentarily. Then jisuk said his dialogue I remembered word for word. Egging on the Klein brother to go fight his sister instead rather than taking his anger out of them. Jisuk pushed him over the edge, earning many fireballs his way as Jisuk mustered up more wind, countering it before the deadly fire got closed. Exploding strong enough to push jisuk away just from the after shock.
"Dammit..."I spit out some blood after moving my mask off to the side a little, opening and closing my mouth to get used to the pain as quickly as I can. "Argh!" The brother kicked Jisuk in the chin, then smashed his foot into his arm, breaking it as well. I flinched, although jisuk and I may not have been of good terms for awhile now, it still pained me to watch him get hurt. Glancing as Subin, the guilt in my stomach only grew.
"I wonder how jiyoung's expression will change when she finds out you died a miserable death" he said, using the same technique on me to burn Jesus shoulder slowly. Just then, a foot long sharp icicle launched at the brother, earning his attention as he turned around, grabbing it. "You guys just don't know who you're messing with...or have you never experienced pain so bad you wished you were dead?" He mocked as I internally cursed him. I just experienced it thanks to you, you fucker! I coughed instead, unable to yell at him. Thinking he probably damaged my throat when burning me.
Glancing at Jiwoo again, I noticed him gathering as much power as he could with his force control. I pursed my lips. I was hardly able to help despite having a permanent force control that works 24/7. I'm still too damn weak. Clenching my jaw, I watched as jiwoo stood up to his feet after Jisuk told him to run away. "Wanna go again?" The man asked, amused by Jiwoos tenacity. "You think you can pull this off, in that state?" I grimaced, Jiwoo is of course probably the most hurt out of all of us and yet...I let out a slow breath, getting up off the ground. "Even if you all were in your best state, none of you would be able to beat me!" The Klein brother then used his power to make something similar to a fire tornado with him at the center, protect. "Hahahaahah! Alright! Give it a try!" His maniacal laughter sent shivers throughout my body, just the look at his flames made my neck throb.
My eyes moved to a nearby building, noticing Casein Nitrate watching from the roof. Furrowing my brows, I turned back to jiwoo when jisuk passed along his wind to help him with his speed. "Whatever you're trying to pull off, won't work! It won't change the fact you can't make it through my firestorm!" He yelled just when Subin used her ice attribute to surround his fire, dulling its true power. I gulped, not knowing how to give my powers from afar, leapt to him with a tiny amount before grabbing his hand.
"Hyung?" Jiwoo flinched, not expecting me to appear at his side. He felt something cold seep into his body from our connected hands, spreading everywhere in him. "It's heat resistance" I whispered, feeling the very last bit of my ability escaping my being. Once I had, I toppled over, unable to keep myself standing any longer as the mask I wore cracked after hitting the concrete.
Jiwoo stared at my passed out body on the ground, clenching his jaw as he immediately used his max speed, disappearing from sight, using every fiber of himself to reach the absolute limit, he broke through the brothers barrier, punching his chest as hard as he could. The speed in which he traveled to punch him only increased the damage as well as his electric attribute he gained from Kayden laying an even deadlier blow. The Klein brother flew away, collapsing onto the ground for good this time.
I smiled under my mask. He did it.
Then Jiwoo flopped over, unable to move anymore.
Lightening my breathing, I shut my eyes, focusing on my force control now to hurry up and gain as much energy to move around again. Before Jisuk, Subin, or anyone else were to try and help me. "Uhm...hey, you need help?" But it was too late when Subins voice entered my ears. I opened my eyes, wanting to speak but nothing came out. Instead I nodded my head, still very much feeling the burns. She easily grabbed my arm, pulling me up and swinging my arm around her shoulder, basically dragging me over to where jisuk and Jiwoo laid. Plopped me before them, I examined jiwoo.
"You alright Jiwoo?" Subin asked. "My arm hurts really badly...and I have no energy left" He admitted as I understood what he meant. It's the first time I used up everything, it didn't feel good at all. In fact, I felt too helpless to the point it was annoying. Both Subin and jisuk remained quiet, seeing Jiwoos tattered arm. Then their eyes drew to the Oni masked stranger. I flinched. "What about y-" Jiwoo, noticing cut of jisuks words. "Wooin" he said, earning both their attention again.
"We have to find Wooin, he might be in danger" Jiwoo said. As soon as he did, I thought of Seongha. Wooin will be fine. Seeing how things played out here, it's obvious I'm not able to change much of the bigger events no matter what. Even though I used a lot of strength against the Klein brother, he was still as strong as how the story played out, like my damage did nothing to him. I sighed.
Does this mean I can't interfere in the story even when I'm forcefully included?
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A/n: uh oh, will Kains efforts now be in vain?
Me looking at the Eleceed Manwha while simultaneously writing and coming up with the fights as I go on:
Kain the whole fight like "IVE SEEN THIS BEFORE" (in his mind):