Chapter 123 - #122 Tetsu and Kana (1/2)

Akashi continued his search for the survivors inside the burning city and was able to find a few more kids around 8-12 years old. He always used Kiyomi to transport them to safety.

'...It's no longer safe using Kiyomi to transport them out of here and I also killed some of their members so they should start getting suspicious. They will never find their bodies since I burned them but that doesn't mean that their absence won't be suspicious. Anyway, thanks to Isuku and Orochi's distractions, I was able to save quite a few of those kids.' Akashi thought while ”looking” around himself.

”Hm.” Akashi looked up just to see Kiyomi slowly landing next to him.

”Hide inside my shadow, the flames are weakening and the smoke is slowly clearing up. You will no longer be able to stealthily fly away.” Akashi said and Kiyomi just nodded her head and got suċkėd inside Akashi's shadow.

Akashi was actually wondering how it feels for them to hide there and he even asked once but they just told him that it's like they have their own world there which was completely opposite what Akashi anticipated. He thought that there is only darkness or that they see what he sees but it was definitely an interesting discovery.

'Although I don't like to leave while I can still hear screams of some survivors, there is no way if I don't want to be discovered. Plus I took as many kids as I could since slaughtering innocent kids is really a bit out of the line, even for the Empire. But I understand that they need to make an example out of them and also that they need to get rid of the roots...They wouldn't want those kids to grow up and join Rebels to get revenge.' Akashi thought and started slowly leaving and before he left the city, he stopped right near the hole inside the wall.

He stretched his arm upwards and send a pillar of flames towards the sky that towered over the entire city. He kept the pillar there for a few seconds before he quickly stopped pouring energy into his hand. He immediately exited the city through the gap in the wall and started running away from the city towards the forest at full speed while holding his hood on.

[Energy: 1490/1515]

---

On the other side of the city, Orochi, and Isuku were rampaging, occasionally killing a few members of the Incineration Squad and members of the Dark Squad. But mostly, they were running away from them while destroying things around them.

However, when they saw the pillar of flames in the distance area of the city, they started retreating back to the forest, making it look like they were afraid of the Incineration Squad's flame spouting weapons.

”Shit! We couldn't even kill them!” One of the members said.

”Don't chase after those worthless Danger Beasts, we need to check what happened back there!”

”What do you think happened, Captain?”

”How should I know?! We already marked the places and storages with explosive materials but maybe we missed something. Leave a few members in this area and the rest follow me!”

---

All the kids were sitting on the grassy ground while resting their backs against trees, all of them were unconscious, some of them were already found like that and some of them were knocked out by Akashi himself to prevent any further trouble.

”...Mm...Kana? Kana?!” One of the rescued kids named Tetsu just regained consciousness and started looking around for his sister but when he saw her sitting next to him, resting her back against the tree while resting her head on his shoulder, he heaved a sigh of relief.

”Oh? You are already up...looks like you are pretty tough for a kid of your age, how old are you anyway?” Akashi said which alarmed Tetsu who has yet to take a careful look around his surroundings since he was focused only on his sister.

'What is this?!' Tetsu thought with a shocked expression when he saw numerous kids in the vicinity, some of them had burns on their arms but that didn't matter since he could recognize some of them and he knew that they were from the same city.

When he saw Akashi sitting in the cross-legged position, an enraged expression appeared on his face. He put Kana's head against the tree so she wouldn't fall and he got up just to take a nearby stick from the ground, taking it into his two hands.

”...A little ungrateful aren't we?” Akashi said with a small curious smile, still sitting with his arms folded.

”You-! I know people like you! You are like those evil government officials. I won't let you do anything to my sister! AAAH!!!” Tetsu said and then started running towards Akashi while releasing his motivating cry.

”HIYAH!!” He swung the stick as if it was a sword in a horizontal motion, aiming for Akashi's neck.

Akashi dodged the stick by leaning his head backward and then when he saw the moment when Tetsu's balance was at its most vulnerable moment after having his attack dodged, he tripped him with only the help of one hand.

”Agh” Tetsu released a groan of pain when he has fallen down while holding his arm which he had fallen down on.

Despite feeling the pain, he quickly stood up and tried to attack Akashi a few more times just to fall down in the same way. Only after around 20 tries, he remained to lie on the ground with a pained expression.

”*sigh* Are you done, kiddo? I am not someone who is going to do something bad to you, I just saved you. And until you cool down, I won't be giving you this” Akashi said while he took the bottle half-filled with ashes.

”...W-What's that?” Tetsu asked with a pained voice, maybe with a speck of helplessness.

”I won't tell you since it would only anger you more, but trust me, it's something you want and something important for you.” Akashi replied with a stoic expression before hiding the bottle away from Tetsu's eyes.

”...” Tetsu didn't say anything and only had a thoughtful look on his face, thinking about Akashi's words.