Reaching the maximum size that Ren's mouth would allow, the purple orb started glittering before slowly moving forward.Kazuki, the only one noticing the giant purple color as he was above everyone else, looked in confusion.
However, before he could say anything or react to the strange anomaly, dozens of new djinns immediately overwhelmed him, hanging from the ice pillars below him.
As the purple orb left Ren's mouth, he swiftly closed it before landing on the ground and blending in among the group of djinns.
Flying above the crowd of djinns, the purple orb headed straight for the top portion of the obsidian door, right where Kazuki was hanging from.
Kevin, glancing upwards to see his brother every couple of seconds, was the first to notice this as he spotted a gigantic purple orb getting closer and closer to them.
Pointing to Orb, Kevin was genuinely at a loss for words as he yelled.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"
Hearing Kevin's yellow, everyone stopped fighting for a moment to glance upwards at the nearing purple orb.
"..."
Alya, immediately on guard, calculated the trajectory of the orb before confirming that it wouldn't hit them and that they wouldn't be in its estimated blast radius.
Calming everyone done, Alya replied.
"The orb isn't aiming at us..."
Pausing for a second, Alya raised her hand and pointed...not at the top portion of the obsidian door but at the roof.
Liam, mid-clash with a djinn, asked in confusion.
"Why the roof, though?"
Shrugging her shoulders, Irene cast a wall of flames before replying.
"Maybe they really hate roofs, I don't know?"
Ruby, now on her break as Irene had taken over maintaining the fire shield, sighed before asking. Sёarᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Irene, do you even think before you speak, or is this straight improv?"
Smiling, Irene replied.
"I try."
Lily, however, remained uncharacteristically silent as she stared at the purple orb that rose higher and higher with every passing second.
"...no, that can't be...purple orb. My favorite author can't be a plagiarizer...can he?"
Snapping Lily of her trance, Kevin yelled up to his brother.
"YOU MIGHT WANNA GET DOWN."
Knocking a djinn off the wall, Kazuki snorted before replying.
"REALLY!? I COULDN'T TELL!"
"WELL, YOU'RE STILL UP THERE SO I DO-"
Interrupting Kevin mid-sentence, Kazuki, leaving his spear embedded in the ice pillar made by Alya, jumped down.
Landing on the ground right behind Kevin, Kazuki immediately pointed into the crowd before announcing. Your adventure continues at m v|l-e'-NovelFire.net
"We have another reinforcement hidden amongst the crowd of djinns."
Liam, ducking to avoid a slash from a djinn's sword, nodded before replying.
"I was wondering why they were slowing down..."
Kevin retreated after taking out a djinn's knee in a sneak attack and chuckled before replying.
"Stop trying to act smart, Liam. You didn't notice shit, and you know it."
In unison, the entirety of the main cast, alongside Kazuki, turned to stare at Kevin.
Not even turning around to respond to their stares, Kevin angrily muttered.
"Oh, let me guess."
Then, Kevin said in his most feminine voice, in a really poor imitation of Lily's voice.
"This is not the time to be making jokes, Kevin!!!"
Surprised by Kevin's outburst, the main cast silently fought against the horde of djinns for a second.
"PFFT"
Unable to keep her laughter from leaking out, Alya, with her hands desperately trying to cover her mouth, chuckled, breaking the silence.
Lily, turning straight around like a predator that had just found its target, stared at Lily with a blank and emotionless expression.
Waving her hands up and down, Alya quickly justified her chuckle.
"I-it was *PFFT* so b-bad that it was good."
Taking down another djinn's kneecaps and sending them limping toward Zach's battleaxe, Kevin yelled out.
"WHAT!? YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER, PRINCESS!?"
Kazuki stared at the group of students in front of him, who were snickering while attempting not to laugh, and sighed.
They were just children, yet here they were, fighting hand-in-hand with him against a group of djinns, who could very well kick them if they made a single mistake.
Recalling his childhood days when he could do the same, Kazuki couldn't help but inwardly smile.
It also made him somewhat sad and depressed that these young students were so used to violence and fighting that they could laugh, but alas, he was the same.
If not, worse.
Recalling his fights during his academy days with Kaneki and the other sudden tcounicl members by his side, Kaneki let out a reminiscent gaze.
At some point, the two of them had made it into a competition.
"Whoever gets the least amount of djinn eliminations has to sleep on the floor tonight!"
Of course, this competition and betting on djinn eliminations had quickly been shut down by their seniors.
But...not for the reason you think.
They didn't shut it down because they believed it to be dangerous for them to bet, as they would be inclined to go for as many kills as possible despite the danger.
It was shut down...because of kill-stealing.
"DAMN IT, KAZUKI, STOP STEALING MY DAMN KILLS, YOU FRAUD!"
Shrugging his shoulders, the young Kazuki grinned before saying.
"ONLY THE LAST HIT MATTERS, NOTHING ELSE!"
Furious, the young Kaneki pointed his sword at the grinning Kazuki before yelling.
"YOU DAMN CHERRYPICKER! ALL YOU DO IS WAIT FOR THEM TO GET WEAK FROM MY HITS, THEN COME IN!"
Smiling, Kazuki stole yet another kill from the fuming Kaneki before replying.
"Don't blame the player... blame the game!"
By the end of the fight, their efficiency in killing djinns had actually gone down.
Needless to say, the seniors weren't too happy about that.
That night... both of them slept on the floor.
Back then, during Kazuki's school days, the world was a much more dangerous and precarious place.
The student council often went out as a group on expeditions to take down dangerous djinn organizations.
Yet, as he gazed at the fearless group of students in front of him, Kazuki couldn't help but think.
"Did they have it worse than me?"