Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills-Chapter 154: Minor Breakout (1)

... Kira 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Kira ran on the muddy road alongside Lyra, their movements were quick as they sprinted through the route.

’Where are they?’

He questioned.

’They’re up ahead.’

That was the reply he got.

’What about Asahi and Jason?’

He asked.

’Both of them are traveling at moderate pace, but, they left a body behind them.’

’A dead body.’

’Yes.’

’They must have killed them, or maybe tortured them.’

He received no answer, though, but he didn’t mind. Both of them advanced forward in unison, their steps practically the same with no disunity between them.

It was almost like they shared the same mind, or at least they were seemingly one mind.

’There are two people ahead, they’re next to the body, examining its condition.’

Kira nodded, and his reaction was almost instant.

He blinked; his body disappeared from its initial position, left only with an afterimage that lasted briefly.

His hand went to his belt instinctively, bringing out two pairs of kunai.

For him, the world moved at its normal speed, that except the people there were slower. Quite slow, it was as if time had slowed down around him.

He darted towards the both of the unsuspecting victims, both of whom were minding their own business up to this point, their defenses were up for random monster attacks.

But, the person moving towards them was too fast.

The technique, the Blink, was something he had created by himself.

Both kunai were thrust forward, simultaneously, went through the heads of the unsuspecting men.

A squelching sound resounded in the air as the weapons went through their heads, killing them quickly and effectively.

They could have reacted, but they were too slow to do so.

As the pain spread through their system, they had already died.

Before the two bodies could fall lifelessly on the ground he pulled the kunai out.

Time restored and the bodies fell onto the ground, their fall being cushioned by the body they had been inspecting.

In a moment, Lyra was back at his side.

’Are they important.’

He mused as he stared at the bodies.

’Only the one that has a hole in his leg is important.’

Kira stared at the pile for a moment.

’The headless one.’

’Yes.’

He kicked the other corpses off the one below it.

He observed the body closer, spending more time glaring at it, his eyes practically looking for anything.

’Its headless, that means-’

He was interrupted.

’It was Jason.’

’Only Jason slices the head off, Asahi prefers to burn them.’

He mused.

’This one has Sean on him.’

Kira glanced at him briefly.

’Then that means that Jason and Asahi killed him before taking Sean with them.’

He couldn’t think of any day his brother tried to be reasonable; from trying to jump off from 20 meters tree as if committing suicide, being reckless and even getting himself caught on several occasions.

There was nothing his brother wouldn’t indulge in as long as it wasn’t ethical.

But it was his indulging that had been the spice of his life, no matter how many times both of them had come close to death.

But, they had come awfully close to death, many times even.

’We should be going.’

Kira glanced at Lyra, his expression serious.

’There are more coming this way.’

He didn’t make any comment, he just skillfully blended into the shadows and performed a blink once more.

Blink was a technique that was made after gaining several bits and pieces about some other minor clans unique speed enhancement technique.

Unlike theirs, his could be learned by practically anybody who could understand the basics of the technique, and it wasn’t something only Hachiman clan members could use.

He vanished from his position, accompanied by Lyra.

As he did so, a faint blue line of mana was carved onto his body. It was undetectable to even the most trained on eyes and would require someone much stronger to even begin to see the line.

Kira appeared next to the incoming people, his eyes scanning them for all they were worth.

Suddenly, he swiped his hands.

Then, they proceeded to walk by each other, like they had never seen in the first place. But, in actuality, it was only one side that had seen them.

Kira held the item in his item in his hand, the crunch of his shoes against the mud being unheard.

’Communication treasure.’

He thought.

’Another one to add to the stock.’

’How many now?’

’About 19 or so.’

He replied.

The communication treasure was quite expensive, only given to the civilians going to war, others would have to buy it. It enabled communication over both long and short distances, but the fuel required for it was mana.

But it had a feature, if both ends were of the same type of communication treasure it would allow the caller and the receiver to share the mana cost together, allowing for even more extended periods of time.

But, they were unable to use it.

To break it from its state a mana override was required. They had gathered a lot of this type of treasure and had to override it.

’This one may actually work.’

He argued.

Kira pocketed the treasure and continued on his way, passing by the people moving towards their last location.

’Why did you spare him?’

He questioned as they passed by yet another group of people running to the site.

’Him?’

She questioned.

’That boy, he was the one with that other communication treasure.’

Kira reminded.

’That one.’

Her voice was indifferent in his head, yet he could feel something.

Remembrance.

’That one wanted to die.’

She explained.

But Jason couldn’t make neither heads nor toes of her explanation.

’So why didn’t you kill him?’

He questioned again.

He wanted to understand why she had left him, this wasn’t the first time someone had seen his face; people had seen his face so much that they were able to sketch it down into a book.

He wanted to know why she had left him alive, yet, still slaughtered the rest that were present.

’He wanted to die.’

She explained again.

Kira couldn’t understand what she meant by it.

’Since he wanted to die, I had to made sure he lived, so he would regret every waking second of his pitiful existence.’

That was the explanation he was waiting for, and when it came, it had him a little dumbfounded.

’You left him alive, just to wallow in his helplessness?’

He tried to match her tone, and he had a bit of success in doing that.

’He’s rank 4, no matter how much he tries, he’ll never be able to break past his limits.’

Kira understood what she meant.

Leaving an enemy to wallow in self pity, wondering why they were unable to save someone from their demise.

He had felt that all too well, for he had lost a lot of comrades... Not only comrades, but companions as well.

No matter their talent, no matter their potential, as long as they didn’t live up to it they wouldn’t be able to get what they want. It didn’t matter if it was revenge they wanted, or just the power to live peacefully.

As long as you didn’t have said power, you weren’t relevant and could easily die.

What Lyra was doing right now was even more worse than bullying.

’Why?’

He asked, his mind heavy with his thoughts.

For a moment, he felt like he finally understood Jason; a person whom always seemed to have a lot of thoughts on his mind.

The answer sent a chill down his spine, despite the fact that he had known her for several days, and they had bonded in more ways than one.

’Because I can.’

The realization hit him harder than it would have ever thought he would.

Deep down...

She was still a monster.

’I am.’

She seemed to assert his train of thought.

’And I always will be.’

The answer was cold, but it was the kind of thing he should have expected from Lyra.

She was... always like this.

From the first day to this one, and no ordinary human could change her.

Silence reigned on their journey.

’We’re a little bit behind Asahi and Jason.’

She informed him.

While the others had chosen to hide in the trees and shrubbery to move around, he could do it as simply as walking, with no extra effort attached to its act.

’They’re also traveling with Sean now.’

’Before they weren’t?’

’Before, he was a bit farther away.’

She answered.

It wasn’t long before they came across the three of them, their movements had halted considerably for a while, and after some internal debating with himself and Lyra he decided to go towards the location.

The three of them were surrounded by a group of awakeneds numbering around four dozen or so.

Given their current strength, the group wouldn’t be hard to deal with.

He knew that, that was why he chose to lean back and watch them fight.

’Why do you want to do this?’

She questioned.

She was obviously referring to why he had chosen not to participate in the fight.

’Because I want to think about something first.’

He answered, resting on a tree. The tree barely shook in response to his weight and he found himself thinking as he laid on it.

Time passed quickly and half an hour had passed, however, for Kira it felt like only a few minutes since he began to think.

"Wake up."

Kira shook his head, shaking away the drowsiness in him.

It was his brother.

"Mmm."

He hummed in response, wiping his eyes.

"You were sleeping, and there were tears in your eyes."

Kira slowly inspected the back of his hands. They were indeed wet.

’Maybe I dozed off.’

"I don’t really know."

He admitted.

"Maybe I dreamt about something sad."