The door banged on the floor, near the stairs and four men entered the house.
Eya was the first one to rise from behind the sofa and attack with a blue beam of light.
Ray, at whom the beam was fired, was already prepared and hence, could easily defeat Eya's attack.
Kakashi rose from the side of the table and shot a red beam-- deadlier and more powerful than the blue beam.
A man, Man-1, jumped forward to save his boss's back. He created a shield and blocked Kakashi's beam.
Kakashi took cover. Beams of red color blew the crockery that was set beautifully above his head. A piece of chinaware flew over Kakashi's head.
"Hi-Busou!" Kakashi leaped to the side and cast a spell to disarm his opponent.
Man-2 cast the same spell and disarmed Kakashi. The spell threw away the second man's wand too.
"Hi-Busou!"
Kakashi, without wasting any time, lifted his hand. His wand flew above the floor and when Kakashi jerked his hand near his chest, the wand flew to him.
Man-2's eyes were left widened when he saw Kakashi use the elevation spell without using a wand. It made one thing clear to him.
Man-2 reached for his spare wand that was tugged by the side of his waist inside a leather scabbard.
The second man curled up his lip. "A warlock." and clenched it.
Man-3 used a spell and sent a yellow color beam at Kakashi.
He created a barrier and blocked the yellow beam. Then he took cover behind the table.
Ray strode toward Eya with his barrier standing still in front of him.
Eya was constantly throwing spells at Ray but could not break through the barrier.
On creating a barrier, it was sure and fate for the barrier to break after a few attacks. Of course, the durability depended on the creator's affinity, control over mana, and practice.
To her, it looked like her opponent had all three of them. Practice, control, and affinity. Despite her constant attacks, he strode.
Uknown to Ray, Eya was already pulling the sofa and herself away with every attack. And by the time he was striding, Eya was a few feet away.
"Ice spikes!" she jerked her arm and spikes formed on Ray's barrier before snapping it.
Eya pulled herself down, behind the sofa. She thought the breakthrough would buy her some time to catch her breath but no, ray was already on his move.
Eya used levitation again and flew back to the end of the hall while throwing ice and fire element attacks.
"Metal spikes!" from her wand came to a few point iron stakes.
Ray's eyes widened. He took a sudden leap forward, in the drawing hall's square, to dodge the spikes.
The stakes pierced the wall behind Kakashi.
For the next minute or so, the men exchanged spells. Blue, red, yellow, and white beams. Fire, ice, earth, and metal elements.
Kakashi knew this was not gonna work. He jerked up, leaving his cover, wide open. His opponents panicked and jumped back.
"Fuck you." Man-2 raised his wand and muttered a curse Kakashi could not hear but could figure out from the man's lip movements.
Kakashi pulled the table up when he read Man-2's lips. Kakashi had to make sure the man does not release the spell and even if he does, the spell does not hit him directly.
Man-2 was seconds away from casting the spell when Kakashi blew his wand. "Kekkan no Noroi!"
A dark blood-red beam of light struck Man-2's chest. He fell to the floor, his mates panicked once again.
The thudding sound caught Ray's attention. Although everyone was terrified to hear the curse Kakashi had chanted, they cared about the man on whom the spell was cast.
He was struggling with life on the floor. His hands shaking, jaws twisted, eyes trying to fly out of the sockets, and a hole in his chest but no blood.
Eya rose, she saw this as the best opportunity to end things with Ray. "Petrify!"
Ray turned the instant he heard her voice. Unfortunately, he was slower than her.
Ray created a barrier but only to leave his torso petrified. Ray had to jump away and take cover.
The remaining two men turned to their mate. They knew their mate's future was already sealed, all they could do was... avenge him.
Kakashi raised the table and threw it at the two men. They both moved away from their mate's body and aimed their wands at Kakashi.
"Wood Splitter!" The table was turned into nothing but wooden splinters.
Everyone in the house had heard Kakashi as he chanted the curse that tore Man-2's fifty thousand miles of blood vessels.
Ryu remembered what Atama-sensei had told them:
'If you have to, kill them.'
After healing himself and removing the gray stone from his chest and stomach, Ray stood up.
"Kill that fucking bastard." He wrinkled his brows.
Ray's long, brown color wand fell down by his side before he raised it at the sofa.
"Freeze-Dry!" A cold breeze erupted from Ray's wand.
The two men bolted inside the kitchen, behind Kakashi.
At the same time, a wave of flames erupted from Eya's wand. "Flamethrower."
Their spells crashed with each other again. None of them won, the fire swallowed the breeze or the breeze chilled down the fire.
Eya stood still when her back touched the cold glass window. She bent down and took cover again.
The two men on the other side cornered Kakashi-- although no one was winning-- they were aggressive against Kakashi. Maniacally throwing around spells as if it were water.
Ray was doing the same. But they all were disturbed when, from the body of their friend, popped out a shower of blood.
After Man-2's vessels were torn, internal bleeding started. Blood flood through his body before it overloaded and blasted from the hole in his chest.
The hole expanded when blood poured out more furiously than before. Ray and the other teammates felt sorry but not like they could do anything.
Ray made sure he does not lose his concentration this time. He applied tension on his wand and raised it.
Eya slid down the carpet spread in the hall's center, she lifted up the table sitting in the middle and threw it.
All it took Ray was one swing of his wand to split the wood table into long splinters. And that's what Eya wanted.
"Wood Manipulation. Shinrin no Mahou: Splinters! Assemble!"
Even before the splinters would fall to the ground, they assembled into one long arrow and on Eya's command, bolted towards Ray.
Ray's eyes widened again but this time, he was calm. "Super Defense Shield!"
He bent down again to dodge the remaining splinters. The worst thing for him was that there was nothing for him to take cover.
So basically, he was alone with his shield in the middle of an open battleground. Eya had her sofa but it was pretty much useless now.
A few splinters managed to breakthrough Ray's shield and stabbed him. He had to retreat, he knew that, but he could not bring himself to do that.
Eya turned back, closed her eyes, and tried to control her breathing by bringing her hands in front of her chest, facing each other.
She imagined a small ball of fire forming in front of her. She felt the cultivated fire affinity running through her veins and mixing up with the cultivated mana of her body.
Immediately, while Ray was still away from the sofa, a tiny ball, dark orange in color, had formed between Eya's hands.
Although it was still noon, Eya could not imagine seeing through the dark forest of deep brown dry wood.
Eya flashed open her eyes, forgot about her cover, and jumped in front of the sliding windows.
Ray had a change of mind. He decided to capture Eya alive while killing the man who was responsible for Man-2's death.
"Bakuhatsu!"
Eya took the hit on her chest-- that flattened her big balloons.
The orange ball, a mixture of concentrated cultivated fire affinity and mana, burned Ray's clothes around the chest and a little part of his chest too.
Ray's feet left the ground and his arms flew above his head. On the impact, the ball threw him inside the dining hall.
Snap.
Glasses shattered and Eya rolled out of the house, into the woods, taking the undrawn curtain with her.
Kakashi felt a stinging pain when Eya cracked a few tree branches. He pulled his forearm and he got a view of Eya rolling into the woods from the forest's point of view.
Kakashi had already defeated both of the men. Their stone-colored bodies lay under his feet. But when the glass shattered and Eya rolled out, Kakashi ran to take a look.
Ray wanted to chase Eya but when tried to get up, he realized his spine had snapped into two on contact with the little stair that connected to the dining hall.
Carefully, softly, and with love-- Ray swung his wand. He could feel his spine joining back together and the pain leaving his body.
In the next second, he was free to move-- or so you and he thought. When he tried to get up, a wand-- red in color-- sprung in front of him.
"Stay where you are, it would not take long to insert a parasite into your body."
Ray raised his hand and stopped where he was.
Eya got up from the ground, used a spell to dust off the mud and snow, then she disappeared.
The next second, she appeared inside the house. 'I am exhausted-- I could not teleport properly.' She thought as she strode towards Ray with pride.
"Why---?"
Kakashi interrupted her. "Who sent you?" he asked.
"Hah, nice try."
Eya frowned. "What do you mean? Are not they---" Kakashi shook his head.
"They are not, dear sister. Tengoku would never send wizards, this powerful, to hunt down a kid."
"They are not Tengoku's men? Then who are they?!" Eya's wand entered the house.
Eya grabbed it and pointed it at Ray's face. "Did Tengoku send you?"
"Tengoku? God, no! We have dignity, why would we join a mercenary?!"
"Then who?"
Ray scoffed. "Atama-sensei."
Kakashi's anger faded. His lips rested and his brows went back. "W-what did you say?"
"Ha, scared now, are not we? Atama-sensei! The headmaster of the Mage Academy."
Kiku and Kakashi exchanged stunned glances. Then they tilted their heads.
"Kill me, if you want to. But remember one thing: Atama-sensei is the strongest Warlock alive. It does not matter who your boss is or, surely strong, you are."
Kakashi and Eya stared at each other as if communicating with each other through gestures.
"Turn yourself in, that would be for the best. Maybe Atama-sensei will spare your lives."
Kakashi nodded. Eya bobbed her head. "Alright."
First, the maroon color wand fell down then did the black color wand. "We surrender."
"Of course, you do." Ray could not suppress his joy. He got up.
Kakashi brought forward his hands, and Eya did the same. Ray took their wands and cuffed them.
"Now bend over," he said, looking at Eya.
She did as she was told. Ray touched her back, then frisked her whole body. Breasts and ass included. The same happened with Kakashi.
"Good. Now, wait here till I heal my men. Remember, if you kill me, you would have to die too."
Ray left for the kitchen.
"A fool. Was this necessary?" Eya frowned.
"Sure a fool. I would have frisked my enemies too."
"That creep touched my breasts."
Kakashi turned to his sister. "I would have done the same."
Two men grabbed the dead body of their friend and teleported. Ray walked to Eya and Kakashi.
"We are leaving," he said, "wait outside." He gave them a glare as if warning them of the consequences of running away.
"I never thought this is how we would meet Atama-sensei," Kakashi muttered while staring at the snow under his boots.
"Five years? More than five, I guess."
"Six. We did not see him for six years, since the graduation."
"Who would have thought that our relationship would turn into that of more than a student-teacher relationship."
"But what happened of Atama-sensei then? Did not Hiro-san ask for his help too?"
Eya shrugged. "Atama-sensei is a strong ally to have. Let us..."
Kakashi opened his mouth but froze when he saw two figures approaching them in the distance.
Eya concentrated her brows, she glanced to her left and her mouth dropped open. "Hitori-san!"
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