Chapter 3 - Black Lightning

[ Daily Quest : 150 pushups, 150 sit-ups, 150 pull-ups. ]

[ Current Level : 2 ]

Yin woke up not knowing where he was.

The sun shone brightly on his face as it illuminated through the window.

On his right side was Suna. She fell asleep sitting and rested her head on top of the bed.

Before he could turn to his left side to look, the Commander was already all up in his face.

"Yo, you're finally awake."

"How are you feeling?"

"What do you remember about yesterday?"

"You do know that you have superhuman decaying abilities, right?"

"Why did that Angel hesitate when it could've killed you whilst you were impaled?"

Yin's head was hurting from this man asking questions and speaking as if he was in a marathon.

"P-please let me gather my thoughts." Yin stuttered.

It was then that Yin noticed his hands were tied and bound.

Why was he tied?

What happened to Jon?

These questions that Yin had all begged to be answered.

The Commander's playful manner dissipated into something more serious.

His face showed immense sadness and regret.

"I'm sorry for not being there in time. I could have saved the kid."

Guilt was slowly swallowing Yin.

If he had milked the cow earlier, maybe he could've been the one who died rather than Jon.

If he had intervened earlier, maybe he could've saved him.

If he-

His spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Luken.

"What caused you to awaken at eighteen years old? That's eight years far too late. Frankly I have never heard of anything like this."

"I-I don't know. I've given up on awakening for years now. I was happy working in the farm. What happened to me?"

Yin's face resembled that of someone who lost. Despite managing to finish off the Angel.

"You can curse your powerlessness. There is no shame in that."

"But you just managed to kill a Rank A monster. An Angel. Shortly after awakening Anima cells after a few minutes. You're strong."

These words pierced through Yin.

Without even knowing it, tears started to flow down his cheeks.

"Commander, can I save more people with my power? It feels heavy, much like a monster riding on top of my head 24/7. My Anima cells are unstable right? What if I hurt more people than I can save? What if I hurt you, or Suna, or any other person?

"That's why I'm here, man. I'll put you to sleep before that even happens. Trust me, I'm very strong."

His smile showed him that everything was going to be alright.

A feint ray of hope that eliminates the clouds of hopelessness.

Commander Luken assured him in a kind gesture. He then extended his palms open to go for a high five.

How could he have forgotten? He tied up Yin's hands himself just last night.

"Oops, my bad."

After a few seconds of awkwardness, the Commander apologized.

"Do you know Suna?" Yin asked him while looking at her.

"Well, it's kind of complicated and confidential, but she's training to be one of the Six Blades."

Yin's jaw dropped.

"What?!"

"Yep, she's that strong."

"If you're thinking that maybe you should have done what she did, aka train your body to the maximum extremes, forget it."

"Her physical strength is almost on par with mine, and that's without Anima cells. She's a freak of nature. The higher ups wouldn't agree to me taking someone with no Anima cells on conquests. They said that if she died, it was on me and my conscience."

Yin was still in awe.

The Commander lights up a cigarette as he opens the window. Flocks of birds flew away with the disturbance of the ambiance.

"But she didn't. She reminds of my own little sister." He smiled.

Shortly after, Suna wakes up.

She hugs Yin and tries to examine for any wound that was not treated last night.

"All good!"

Suna took out a mirror from the drawer and showed it to Yin.

"W-what happened to my hair?!"

"That's what we'd like to know too, you know?"

"Speaking of which, why are my hands tied?" Yin asked addressing both Luken and Suna

"Well… you kind of activated your Anima skills while sleeping last night."

Luken pouted his lips pointing towards a pile of ash-like powder.

"That's a coffee mug. Well, it used to be, at least."

"I did that?"

Yin could not believe it.

"What if I do it to you guys?"

Yin was panicking now. He was out of breath due to anxiety.

Luken walked towards him, cigarette still in his mouth.

"I told you, if you even so much as touch another person lethally, I'll deal with you."

His blue eyes pierced Yin's whole being.

"For now, you're reported as missing."

"Missing? W-why? I should get back to the farm, I need to tend to the sheep and to milk the cows and-

His words were cut short by the Commander.

"Yin. You are a rank C Slayer now. Normally, I won't even look in the direction of someone who isn't even rank A, but for you guys, I've made an exception.

Suna rolled her eyes in annoyance and gagged playfully.

"C'mon Suna, you'll be rank A in no time!"

"I know that Commander! I just have to work and train harder!"

Her face was fired up and excited.

Luken then turned his direction towards Yin.

"If other Organizations were to get a hold of you, you would be executed. Your Anima cells are far too unstable, even for the crazier groups. The Higher Council would not even think twice of hearing your pleas as you are now. That's how weak you currently are."

Yin's head faces down in bitterness at himself.

"But we can change that. Prove to Niflheim that you are worthy to be called a Slayer."

"Your training starts today."

Luken shows a grin painted with smugness.

"I won't allow a rank C Slayer to reside in the Six Blade's hideout for much long."

Yin's face was shining with will and determination.

"I won't be ranked C for long, Commander."

"Don't disappoint me Yin. I've never been wrong in scouting people."

Suna helps Yin sit upright.

She slowly removed his tied hands from bondage.

Luken gives Yin a pair of black gloves.

"Wear these, as long as you're close to me, I'll negate your Decay Aura until you can turn it off by yourself."

The three stepped outside.

"First things first, we have to see what your Anima Affinity is."

"There are five, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Lightning. Though some irregularities appear here and there. Well, they're not really irregularities, they're just special people."

Luken takes out a rock from his pocket.

Suna was about to ask why he kept a rock in his pocket, but she thought he probably did it on purpose so someone would ask why the heck someone kept a rock in their pockets.

Luken's was that of a clown begging to be given attention.

But he was given none. Zero.

"Really? Nobody? You're not even curious why I have this baby here?"

Yin and Suna both stared at him with lifeless expressions.

"Alright alright! Yin, I want you to focus your Anima on this rock, release it as much as you can. If it burns up, your affinity is fire, if it gets wet, yours is water, and the others go without saying."

"I'll just focus it on the rock, right?"

Luken nods in agreement.

Yin focuses his skills on the rock.

After what seemed like forever, a black spark hit the rock from up above. It was lightning.

But it was different this time, it was black lightning.

Both Suna and Luken were speechless.

"I guess we have an irregularity on our hands."

Yin proudly says as the rock transforms into a weird coral-like structure.

It was fulgurite.

This was what happened when lightning struck rocks.

But something happened shortly after, the fulgurite turned into ash.

"You're wrong Yin, this is special." The Commander said in excitement.

"It seems your focused Anima skills have a dual effect."

"First, it strikes with black lightning from the heavens, then it applies a delayed effect of decay. But this is different, you made rocks wither, and the mug from earlier too."

"Yesterday you were containing your abilities to only fast-forward the aging of organic things. This is very interesting."

Yin listens intently.

He tried to do it with a grimoire handed to him by Luken.

But he couldn't.

"What's happening Commander?"

"Well, it seems like you can't cast spells with grimoires. You're a close quarters type combatant, Yin."

"You can disperse energy and strengthen your physical attributes greatly. But I would like you to refrain from using Decay until you can control it, okay?"

Yin nodded in approval.

Suna was warming up at a distance.

She was doing pushups and jumping jacks.

"All finished! Let's go Yin."

Her eyes hade the same flare as that of a lioness stalking its prey.

"W-what? You want me to spar against her??"

Yin asked Luken with an obvious sense of terror in his voice.

To which Luken smiled with sympathy.

"Welp, I feel sorry for you. But it must be done."

He ran back towards the house and hid inside, only looking through a window.

Yin wanted to take this opportunity to stretch up.

He performed his daily quest.

After doing 150 pushups, 150 sit-ups, and 150 pull-ups, a red message box appeared.

[ Daily Quest : Accomplished]

[ EXP gained : 100/2000 ]

[ Level : 2 ]

Once Yin was finished with his daily quest, he got ready for the inevitable sparring against Suna.

"T-take it easy, alright, Suna?"

"I'll try."

Her face says the opposite.

Suna had a smirk tugging at the sides of her lips.

What happened next was a beat-down so great that even Luken was covering his eyes.

Well, he did move his fingers a bit so he can still see the bloodbath.

"That was a good spar, Yin!"

She says as her forehead barely breaks a sweat.

But it was noticeable that she had fun.

Yin and Suna have not had this type of fun since they were playing as children.

Suna's determination and concentration mirrored with her fighting style.

"If I can't use magic against the monsters, the least I could do is use my fists to bash their heads in!"

Both of them spent the afternoon sparring.

The number of hits Suna landed = 205

The number of hits Yin landed = (almost ) 1.

He could've landed that one hit if Luken did not shout this out at the top of his lungs.

"An Angel!!"

There wasn't one.