Chapter 69 - Strength Disparity

"Why in the hell are you attacking us?!"

Yin shouted at the Fire Slayer.

Kai sighed once again.

"You really should not take it out on me, boy. I was only following Ignis' orders."

Kai replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ignis?"

Yin was confused.

He did not know the leader of the Inferno Garden at all.

"I believe that is their leader, Ignis Silva. The SS Rank Fire Slayer representing the Inferno Garden. I have read about him many times in my books and even on the newspapers."

Zachary said.

"Bingo! Looks like someone is at least knowledgeable. Hey, your name was Zachary, right? You seem smart, but your grimoire casting is a bit sloppy."

Kai said as he nodded, seemingly approving of his own words himself.

"I know that!"

Zachary exclaimed.

He readied his grimoire again and attempted to cast the Whirling Fireball spell once more, this time, a fireball was indeed formed.

The fiery projectile glided through the air quickly, Kai dodged it by moving his head to the left on pure instincts.

"Would you look at that, that is some nice improvement, man!"

Kai said to Zachary, who was obviously annoyed by the intruder's overly enthusiastic attitude.

"Tch. He does not think we are worth fighting for real, he is just toying around with us. Yin, you should make sure that you do not use your powers, I am not talking about the black lightning enchantment, I am referring to your decay aura."

Suna clicked her tongue as she said that.

If there was one thing Suna Izanami hated, it was whenever an enemy looked down on her and her allies.

"The difference between an S Rank Slayer and the three of us is honestly overwhelming."

Yin said.

"But there is no reason that we should not try, he clearly is not going to take us seriously unless we beat him to a pulp. He intruded on Six Blades territory. Let us defend our honor as members of the organization!"

He added.

Yin called forth the black lightning and enchanted his gauntlets with pitch black thunder from above.

"Did that really need to be said?"

Zach laughed a bit.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Yin."

Suna assumed her fighting stance once more.

Kai's eyes were perplexed.

"Would you look at that. Black Lightning, that is pretty rare, you know? Anyway, we should stop having these long pauses, guys. I mean we are in a fight, right?"

Kai Xin was mocking them.

"Now. Come at me, bring your honor to the Six Blades!"

His face once more went from playful to deadpan in an instant.

Suna rushed in first, unleashing a barrage and volley of punches at Kai Xin, which the latter was easily dodging.

Behind her was Zachary, who did not have his scythe, he only had his grimoire with him so he was forced to only have this tool in this battle to use.

After dozens of punches, Suna jumped upwards into the air, this confused Kai, he squinted his eyes as he glared at the Sun behind Suna.

This was the opening that they desperately needed in order to even have the tides remotely turn in their favor.

Zachary was not relenting. He opened the grimoire to the same page once again and threw the Whirling Fireball at Kai Xin.

The Inferno Garden Fire Slayer backed off and was forced to unsheathe his saber.

He sliced through the fireball with a grin on his face.

"Damn, now that was 'almost' a fireball, good job, Zachary, take my compliments as someone who is also a Fire Slayer!"

Kai Xin was busy chuckling that he did not notice Yin run from the side towards his back.

Kai quickly turned around and saw Yin was coming at him with his fist cocked back and revved up.

The S Rank Fire Slayer knew that it would be far too late to turn his whole body around to block the attack, he thought of a decision right on the spot as quick as he could.

He swung his sword backwards while keeping his body steady facing frontwards.

Yin's fist was planted in his blade.

It was not on the sharp edges so Yin's hand was not exactly cut.

But Yin was not controlling himself well enough. 

"Shit."

Yin did not hope to activate his decay aura, but it just did involuntarily.

"That was a good plan of attack, I am honestly impressed. You are one sneaky son of a –"

Kai Xin's words quickly got interrupted by the sight of his red saber getting decayed and turning into dust.

The decay started from the part where Yin punched and spread throughout the blade.

In an instant, Kai let go of the sword and threw it away, his instincts were heightened.

Kai's fight or flight tendencies were activated seeing his saber decay into dust just from a punch.

The imminent sense of doom was there for him. There was no mistake about it. If he held on to his blade as it crumbled into dust, he would follow shortly after, starting with his hands until nothing was left of him.

The Fire Slayer's grin was erased, replaced by his serious one from earlier.

"What the fuck was that?!"

Kai stared at Yin.

The latter was now sweating bullets.

Zachary and Suna were confused as well.

Yin was starting to panic.

He was hyperventilating, his feet were planted to the ground. Yin wanted to move, but he could not.

"What have I done? I targeted my System powers at another human being?! I am sure even this Kai Xin guy knows how dangerous that was. I could have killed him…"

Yin thought to himself as cold sweats dripped down from his temple.

"Since you are not going to answer. I am going to beat you all down till you do."

Kai said.

Zachary attempted to cast the fireball, but Kai was already in front of him.

"H-How fast is this guy!?"

He thought to himself.

Kai Xin's burning red gaze was the last thing Zach would see.

For a couple of hours, at least.

Kai Xin hit Zachary's neck off with a chop from his bare hands, knocking him out unconscious.

"Too slow."

He then turned his attention at Suna.

Both of them exchanged blows and punches.

Each impact sent ripples of shockwaves across the forest.

"You really are something else. To go toe to toe against someone with no Anima cells and come out even like this, you are strong, Suna Izanami."

Suna swung a round house kick at Kai.

The latter easily dodged it.

"Shut your mouth and focus on our brawl, you weirdo."

"How rude. I would like to admit something, though."

He said as he threw a one two jab that almost got Suna on the second swing.

Yin was still planted on the ground.

The thought of him almost killing another human being with his decay powers was gnawing at him.

Even if Kai was an intruder, it was clear that he was holding back.

And if he really wished them harm and death, he could have taken them all out minutes ago.

"The thing is, you know how Anima cells, if activated and stressed correctly, can heighten a person's physical capabilities, right?"

He said as he dodged a powerful kick from Suna once more.

"It is a bit rude to attack someone while they are talking, I'll say that. So, anyway, I am going to tell you that I have not activated my Anima cells whatsoever even since after I showed myself to you guys."

Suna stopped in her tracks and composed herself.

"Is this guy serious? All this time he has just been fighting us with his raw physical prowess? What kind of monster is he?!"

She thought to herself.

"Surprising, isn't it? That is why I am honestly amazed at you. The database show that you have no Anima cells yet you managed to climb to the B ranks easily. You must be powerful. But there is a clear disparity between me and the three of you combined. A disparity wider than you can even begin to imagine."

Kai said to her, he wanted to see if his words would bring her down.

"Is that so? Well then, watch me rise up to the ranks even more with nothing but my fists."

Suna smirked.

Kai Xin could not help but crack a faint smile.

"Interesting. You have ice cold veins in you, but willpower and meek strength alone will not help you win battles."

Kai said.

He kicked his feet one after another, Suna was confused as to what he was doing.

Flames engulfed Kai's black boots.

"Blink, and you will miss me."

Suna did just that and noticed that Kai was gone from her line of sight.

She sensed the presence of someone behind her.

As she turned around, Kai had already hit her nape with a well placed chop from his hands.

This made Suna drop unconscious on the ground.