Allen charged in at Kael. He moved extremely fast, and every stride crossed a large distance. His speed rose the more he moved. He planted one foot into the ground, kicked off, spun in the air, and went for a slash right at Kael.

Kael stepped back as he parried the attack, his eyes already moving for the next opening as he went for a slash underneath. His sword met with the armour, sparks flew, and it dug a few inches in, but no solid wound.

Allen staggered until he came to a stop. He turned around and looked at Kael, who still had a smile on his face. He spread his swords to the side. A blue glow formed at the tips and then a flow of lightning that moved like water before striking the ground and burning the floor.

More strikes followed until the lightning became as thick as two fingers and struck the ground far more rapidly.

He leaned into a sprinter’s stance, and then he launched forward, his right sword already heading for a slash through the air and unleashing an arc of lightning. Kael looked at the attack incoming. He knew the blade was not the risk here but rather the lightning. He pressed his foot into the ground and spun around.

The lightning arc shot past him and struck a building, blasting a hole into the wall. At the same time, Kael pressed forward with his eyes ahead and said to himself,

"Have to get through his lightning."

Allen had his own plans. He saw Kael coming, and he shifted his weight, unleashing a downward slash with the left sword, an attempt to make sure Kael did not come too close.

Kael pulled back. The sword hit the ground, and the lightning blasted a hole there. Before Kael could recalibrate and attack again, Allen had already charged forward.

"Arghhhhhhh!" he roared before unleashing a barrage of attacks. Left, right, all angles. He tried to break the defense of Kael with everything that he had. Kael managed to block all the attacks but was getting pushed back fast.

Allen believed that if he continued this barrage of attacks, he would finally carve out the opportunity to land a clean hit, but just as those thoughts settled in his mind, he looked up, and there he saw Kael, who, while blocking his attacks, was busy smiling. That constant smile managed to tick off the last sense of control that Allen had.

"Arghhh, die already!" his voice thundered, but it was swallowed by the explosive sound of the lightning from both swords as he slashed them down at the same time with all the strength that he had. The lightning surged forward like a dragon attacking its prey.

Kael saw the attack coming, and rather than running, his grin widened, and he pulled one leg back before going in for the slash.

"Sword Technique, Ultimate Counter!"

He swung with all that he had, and the sword collided with the lightning. It was suspended for half a second before the attack was hurled back at him at full force.

The lightning roared and surged through the street. Allen saw it coming, but there was nothing that he could do. He had never expected that his attack would be hurled back at him.

BOOM!

Allen was hurled back. The blast ripped through him with massive force. When the attack ended, Allen collapsed to the ground covered in burns as he coughed up huge amounts of blood. He tried to move his body, but his body refused to respond to him. He could only stay in that very position.

Kael walked close. His steps got louder as the street grew quieter. He could hear the subtle shifting of people inside the houses all around. It was evident that they had been watching, probably in fear. They were all worried that their adventurer would die at the hands of a monster.

’Sigh, it was not meant to be this way,’ he thought as he got close and grabbed Allen by the hair.

He raised Allen’s head up and looked him right in the eye.

"I guess the strongest won," he said and then picked up one of Allen’s blades.

BAM!

A door swung open. He heard the shouts of a mother trying to stop her daughter from running out. A small girl no more than eleven ran out of the house, pigtails flaying in the wind as fear and panic filled her face.

"Stoppp!" she screamed at Kael.

Kael stopped. He looked up and saw her standing there, tears streaming down her face as she looked him right in the eyes.

’She is scared, yet she rushed out knowing she could die.’

"Leave him alone, please, don’t kill him," she begged.

Kael looked at Allen again, who was still in his hands. He lifted the sword as if he was ignoring what the girl had to say. She screamed even louder as she watched Kael pull his hand back and go in for the stab. The sword went through Allen’s shoulder.

Allen groaned in pain. Kael pushed him with the sword and stabbed it into the wall of a house and hung him there, but he did not kill Allen. Kael turned and looked at the girl as she stood there, and then he heaved a sigh. He turned and walked away, leaving Allen there barely alive.

He had barely gotten a few dozen meters away when the doors opened and people rushed to pull Allen from the wall to help him. A few of them kept their eyes on Kael, worried that he would turn back and attack them, but he did not.

’I guess this is what community looks like, people who love each other. Sigh, even before I came here, I don’t think I had such a community.

All I recall is reading novels and work. Everyone wore smiles on their faces to mask the pain that they were all going through, or to mask their hidden laughter at us who went through the pain.’

Kael looked at the sky above.

"This life is one big piece of shit. Even in a new life, it managed to make me feel so fucking alone."