𝑜𝑣𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

It turned out that Zoemi and Alan jumped out from the crumbling underground shelter right into the heart of the raging forest fire.

“LAW OF SAGITTARIUS, YOU MURDEROUS SCUM!”

*WHOOOOOOOOOOO*

An enraged shout came out of nowhere, similarly, a concentrated beam of star power that coated itself in fire, turning into a blazing comet simply appeared right in front of the grim-faced black-haired man.

“HOW ABOUT YOU FUCK OFF?!”

*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

Zoemi’s face twisted in anger and he waved his hand causing the air at the tip of his fingers to ignite and erupt into a pillar of fire that dwarfed the opposing attack, swallowing it whole and negating any incoming damage.

“GAAAAAH?! WHAT IN THE GUIDE’S NAME?!”

Zoemi landed softly on the ground and immediately dashed through the burning forest while the faceless voice cried out in pain and growled in anger.

“Z-Zoemi…?! What?! How?! It hasn’t been an hour though?! And you are not hot…! I mean, you are but not in that sense and…!”

Alan gasped in pure confusion, stretching his neck to see past Zoemi’s torso.

“Thank you, also, I was lying about the time constriction. As I said, I never trusted Aaron or Rhodes. Why would I tell them the truth about my abilities? Try to not speak too much now, you might bite off your tongue. Law of Libra.”

The black-haired man snickered before activating another star power and merely thinking up what he wanted to use it on…

*BOOOOM*

“!!!”

The next moment his speed increased dramatically as even a single kick-off caused the earth under his feet to erupt, giving Alan quite a scare.

“IS THAT HOW WERE ARE PLAYING, HUH?! STARFALL~!”

The voice definitely didn’t take to heart Zoemi’s words – or maybe did and was now responding in kind…

*WHOOOO* x888

Whoever was attacking them was clearly enjoying themselves to the fullest – especially when they summoned a rain of fire upon the runaway two.

“I am not going to repeat myself… I gave them a chance…”

“…huh…? Z-Zoemi…?”

The black-haired man gritted his teeth, sounding actually pissed off for once and making the young man in his arms tremble.

“Close your eyes or you might go blind.”

“…!”

Zoemi advised and Alan first went wide-eyed just to hurriedly shut them and burrow his face in the black-haired man’s chest for increased safety.

“Red star.”

*&^%$$%^&^%$#%^$#$%$#@*

Zoemi actually had to concentrate to pull off the next attack – he made a quick judgment of where their opponent was and spoke up the name of the attack as if it was the incantation of a spell – what followed was a reaction of the scorching hot crimson sphere that turned itself into a single-use projectile and launched itself at locked-on location while making an unearthly sound…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

“…!”

Once it encountered some sort of obstacle that it wasn’t able to immediately burn away, it exploded causing a massive shockwave that propelled Zoemi and Alan far faster and further than they would get on their own, but also managed to put down the spreading fire in one go.

Still, although the young man experienced overwhelming pressure, the black-haired man didn’t stumble or trip and continued running the moment his feet connected with the ground.

“Wh-wha-what was that…?!”

Alan asked after finally being able to catch a breath of air that wasn’t trying to fry his throat and lungs as they gained some much-needed distance.

“An attack hopefully powerful enough to take down whoever was attacking us. If that didn’t manage to at least incapacitate them I got nothing – anything stronger than you, my friend, would end up a pitiful burnt french fry.”

Zoemi answered, glancing over his shoulder cautiously, watching out for more oncoming attacks.

But thankfully, the sky was clear, as both the smoke and even clouds got blown apart by the aftereffects of the explosion.

“…I don’t want to end up a french fry… whatever it is…”

Alan trembled and muttered in a pleading tone that lifted Zoemi’s mood.

“It’s actually a type of food – one that I could prepare given the right ingredients, it’s delicious, actually.”

“…now you are just bullying me…”

The black-haired man pointed out, clearing the possible future misunderstanding but only making Alan blush and cling to him that much harder.

After they gained even more distance and there still was no revenge attack from their faceless opponent, the young man regained some of his composure and asked straightening his back a little.

“Zoemi… you said that anything stronger would be dangerous for me… that means it wasn’t your most powerful attack…?”

Zoemi released his head and then Alan wrapped his arms around the black-haired man’s neck for a more comfortable position and asked.

“Who knows?”

Zoemi merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders lightheartedly as he carried the young man into safety…

———–

“Was that someone from the Blood Sect or the unknown black-haired marital artist…?”

A short copper-haired man with sift facial features and a voice so low it did not fit him in the slightest, called out as he stood up and shook off the hot ashes that the shockwave covered him with.

“Everyone, report in! What in the world was that attack? How many were injured… Guide damn it… how many conscious people we have left…?!”

He called out, looking around over the group he lead all the way to the middle of nowhere to take down the dark sect.

No one answered him – although at the moment it was hard to tell whether his comrades were dead or just unconscious.

*THUMP*

“!!!”

Just as the copper-haired man was walking through the mound of ash reaching his knees, braving it to get to the closest body, something fell right next to him straight out of the sky!

“…fuuuuuck…!”

The fall was rather dangerous and even the large amount of ash cushioning wasn’t able to absorb nearly enough force to make it not painful – which was soon confirmed by the weak groan from the created hole.

“Bevan?! Bevan, are you alri…! Dear Guide…!”

The copper-haired man shouted in shock and his deep voice reverberated through the area as he hurried over to the crash site and actually had a look at the object – or rather person – that had fallen.