Sean pointed at a young hiker walking far below them. Sora could vaguely notice that he was holding something.
Sean said, “Right now, that man is reading a book called, ‘A hundred ways to win a girl.’ He is now on the seventy-first page of the book. Am I right, Roy?”
Roy, who was eavesdropping on them, pressed a switch. A screen in front of them turned on, showing the land below them. It zoomed on the man and showed a clear picture of the page the man was reading. The name of the book was also visible on the top part of the page. Roy said, “Right you are, Sean.”
Sora stared dumbfounded at Sean and stuttered, “Wha… but… how?”
Sean smirked and said, “I was born with an ability which I call ‘hawk eye.’ It allows me to see things far away very, very clearly. I could spot a mole on a guy’s cheek two kilometres away.”
Sora continued to gape at Sean. Then, he said, “But how do you use that to make your contract’s power unique?”
Sean said, “Well, lightning can be moulded into different forms, depending on how well the user can control it. My favourite form is a bullet. And combined with my hawk eye, I can be like a…”
“Sniper!” Sora finished.
Sean grinned and said, “That’s right. Pretty cool, isn’t it?”
Sora said, “It’s bloody brilliant! I just didn’t expect that.”
Just then, Ray called out, “Hey guys, we’ll arrive at Vulcan Forest in exactly three minutes. Get ready.”
Sean replied, “Alright. You ready Sora?”
Sora scoffed and said, “I was born ready.”
Sean grinned. “How clichéd.”
Sora caught a glimpse of the trademark volcano that stood at the centre of the forest. The land below them was thick with trees. But they soon came across a clearing for the N-2 to land.
Roy touched down gently and the door popped open, allowing the contractors to step into the open forest. Sora’s senses seemed to react to the forest environment. The fresh, wild scent of the forest, the chirping of insects and birds in the air; these made Sora feel like he was back in Blood Hill Forest. Sora got goose pimples just thinking about those days.
Roy stepped out as well and said, “Alright. I used the ki sensor on the craft. Aside from beast class contracts, I caught signals from two pretty high ki levels about two kilometres in the southwest direction from here. They seem to be moving towards the volcano at walking pace.”
Sean nodded and said, “Looks like the Aryans got a head start. We need to stall them and get to the volcano before they do. Your job is to stall them, Sora.”
Sora nodded, but suddenly realized something. He said, “Wait, are you asking me to face two Aryan contractors at the same time alone? Isn’t that… well… a really reckless plan?”
Sean sighed and said, “I know the plan sounds crude, but it’s the best we’ve got.” He placed his hand on Sora’s shoulder and said, “But I know that you can pull it off. You’re good at tracking people, right?”
Sora muttered, “Better than your everyday hound, that’s for sure.”
Sean grinned and said, “I just need you to hold them off for as long as you can. You’re strong enough to do that. And don’t worry. I’ll back you up right after I’ve recovered the contract.”
Sora was still uncertain about the seemingly impetuous plan. But Sean persisted him to proceed, as they didn’t have much time left, and headed towards the volcano. Roy wished Sora luck and stepped back into the N-2.
Sora groaned and said, “Guess there’s no helping it. Jake was right about Sean though.”
Sora instantly dashed into the forest towards the direction Roy had pointed. As he whizzed past the trees, he spotted various E rank and F rank beast class contracts. Some of them scuttled into little holes and onto trees on seeing Sora.
He kept looking around very intensely for signs of humans having entered the place, which was not an easy thing as the thick canopy over his head let very little sunlight in. But not long afterwards, Sora noticed some trampled grass in the area.
Sora cautiously followed the indications of human movement till it came to grassless areas. Sora could definitely identify two sets of footprints on the ground. On closer inspection, they seemed to have been made not more than a couple of minutes ago.
Seeing as the Aryan contractors were walking, Sora guessed that they weren’t too far away. He suppressed his ki as much as he could to erase any sign of his presence.
He advanced as silently and quickly as he could through the dimly lit path. Using his keen sense of smell, Sora caught a whiff of a scent, which was not part of the forest. He knew he was close. And sure enough, he caught sight of his adversaries a few seconds later, despite not sensing any ki from either of them.
The canopy was not as thick as it had been before, bringing the men’s features into light.
The men were tall and muscular, and were around seventeen or eighteen years old. But one was highly tanned in contrast to his partner, who was really fair. They seemed to be talking to each other in low voices as they proceeded towards the volcano.
Sora jumped on top of a tree as he edged closer and closer to them.
He held his breath, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Sweat trickled down his chin as he edged closer, waiting to pounce on his unsuspecting prey.
…Unsuspecting?
Just as he moved in for the attack, a fact popped into his mind.
Not more than a few minutes earlier, Roy’s sensor had picked up two high ki levels. Yet these contractors were not giving out any sign of having ki. This meant only one thing.
Sora stopped himself from leaping in, but that moment of hesitation cost him. The sudden flux of Sora’s ki had not gone unnoticed. And sure enough, there was a flash of bright light from one of the two men and a sudden burst of flame struck the tree Sora was hiding behind.
The tree exploded, covering the scene with smoke. Sora burst out with his sleeves smoking. But there was another flash from below and a white beam was fired straight at his face.
Sora grit his teeth and flipped backwards, dodging the beam by a whisker.
Sora landed unscathed, except for a tear in his shirt. He exhaled heavily and wiped the sweat off his chin. But before he could catch his breath, an enormous white ape with a flat face and red eyes rushed at him and was right above him with a raised fist.
Sora jumped back as the earth caved in at the spot where he was just standing.
Even before he could regain his footing, Sora noticed something rushing at him from the right out of the corner of his eye.
He guarded his side with his arm but the impact blew him away.
He smashed into a tree and lay flat on his back. He then slowly struggled to sit up. Suddenly, Sora winced.
His shoulder seemed to be dislocated. But without a second thought, he pushed his shoulder back in place with gritted teeth.
Pain flooded his body for a few seconds. He somehow resisted shouting out to avoid letting his adversaries know where he was. But he needn’t have bothered.
Sora heard a safety catch being pulled and felt cold metal being pressed against his temple. A deep voice said, “Unless you want me to blow a hole through your skull, I suggest you give up.”
Sweat trickled down Sora’s cheek as he muttered, “Well done, your plan worked brilliantly. You made sure that your presence was known so that I would try launching a surprise attack on you. But I realized that you were waiting for me to come to you too late.”
The fair-faced man walked in front Sora and said, “That’s right. You waltzed right into our palms. But you hid your ki pretty well. We didn’t know you were there till a few seconds before we attacked.”
Sora glanced at the revolver pressed against his temple and said, “But this is the first time I’ve seen a contractor use a gun. You guys are contractors, right?”
The man behind Sora said, “A Desert Eagle revolver is a standard issue for contractors when they reach A rank. Not knowing this m
ust mean that you must be a rookie. I can’t believe Lucifer’s Fall would send a lone rookie contractor to face us.”
The fair-faced man smirked and said, “Well, let us enlighten you a little. I am Vishal Raju and he is Vikram Arikath. We’re an A rank tag team, who both wield beast class contracts. He uses the Emperor Ape, an A grade contract while I use the White Rhino, a B grade.”
Vikram said, “We’re introducing ourselves so that Lucifer’s Fall will know who kicked your butt so bad that they never send some lone and weak contractor again.”
Sora quickly analysed everything he had heard. They seemed to be under the impression that he had come alone. That put the whole mission into his advantage. He planned to waste as much time as he could so that Sean could retrieve that contract without them realizing it.
“You guys really do seem to be strong. But I’m not as weak as you reckon. I was just caught by surprise.”
Vishal scoffed, “Excuses. If we were serious, you would be dead by now.”
Vikram added, “And we don’t need our contracts to finish you off either. My finger might just slip and pull the trigger.”
Sora grinned and said, “Come on. Don’t be like that. We should get to know each other. Like… how’s the weather back in Bharata city?”
Vishal raised his eyebrows and replied, “Hot… really hot.”
“Any good restaurants there?”
“Some of the best in the world.”
“You have a girl you like?”
“Well… yea– I mean, shut up!” said Vikram furiously. “I should just blow a hole through your brains.”
Sora said, “Aww… that’s not nice. I might just do this.”
In a blink of an eye, Sora got behind Vikram and tried to kick him in the face. But Vikram was fast enough to block it with his Desert Eagle, which shattered in contact.
Vishal stepped in as well. There was a flash of light and the White Rhino charged at him. Sora timed his jump perfectly and let the savage beast ram into the tree behind him.
Vishal was right in front of him. Sora sent a few jabs, which were deftly blocked. Vishal weaved around Sora’s left hook and issued a right straight of his own.
The punch soared through Sora’s afterimage. A flash ensued behind him. Sora sent Vishal flying with a strike from the Wind Fangs.
A dark shadow loomed behind him. Sora swirled around to see the Emperor Ape raising his foot. Sora’s wind cage blocked its raised leg. The wall of wind shattered on doing so.
The gargantuan ape blew out fire from its colossal mouth. Sora dodged with ease this time and waited for another burst of flame.
Then, from Sora’s blind spot, a white beam struck him and Sora sprawled across the earth.
“An eye for an eye,” muttered Vishal, who was back on his feet and beside his contract.
Sora struggled to his feet. He sunk his blades into the earth to hold him up and said, “Damn, that hurt.”
Vishal said, “Alright, we get your point. We underestimated you.”
Sora smirked and said, “I’m fast, aren’t I.”
Vikram muttered, “I would be lying if I said that you weren’t. But… it’s funny that you’re able to use the split step as well.”
Sora stared at Vikram and said, “What do you mean, ‘as well’?”
Vishal sighed and said to Vikram, “Guess that got you excited, huh. I reckon I shouldn’t hold back either.”
Vikram grinned and said, “Yeah, it doesn’t seem like he’ll die very easily.”
One minute and twenty six seconds later, the whole terrain was disfigured. The trees which were not destroyed were either burning or had big holes in its trunks. There was a huge crater right in the middle of the devastation. And down at the centre of it was Sora, lying barely conscious. He seemed to have broken every bone in his body.
“Scary…” he thought. He had always thought that speed was his forte and was pretty sure that he was pretty powerful. But the two contractors walking towards him had proved him wrong.
Vikram clutched his bleeding chest and said, “Looks like you’re finally down for the count.”
Vishal spat out blood and said, “It’s been a while since someone forced Vikram to go full speed and me to use my full power. I thoroughly enjoyed this fight.”
Sora trembled, as they got closer. Was this what people called pure fear? Sora just could not stop shaking.
Vikram then said impatiently, “Alright. Now that we know he’s alive, we should get that contract and leave. The volcano is not more than a kilometre away now.”
Vishal was about to reply when a sudden streak of yellow light struck him squarely in the chest. Vikram caught him just before he hit the floor.
Another yellow bolt struck Vikram’s feet. He was paralysed. He had no idea from where or how they were being sniped. But seeing as they were in a crater, the attacker had to be in a high place. He looked at the sky. The only place he could see was the top of the volcano. Vikram squinted.
There was a gleam of light right at the top. Vikram saw another bolt-like bullet being shot at him. And right before it hit him, Vikram muttered, “Sean Murray.”
At the top of the volcano, Sean whistled and said, “Damn, guess I was found out.”
He spoke into his G watch, “Roy, the object has been retrieved. Get the N-2 to the top of the volcano to pick me up. Then, we have to rescue Sora. He’s pretty badly wounded.”
There was a reply, “~ I knew your plan was too reckless this time. Jake was right about you. Anyway, are you sure the contract is the right one? ~”
Sean took out the round stone from his pocket. “You’re making me feel worse than I already am. Oh, and it matches the one in the picture. But there seems to be some kind of problem. I’ll have to talk to Mr. Wayne about it. Anyway, hurry would you? Sora’s breathing seems to be slowing down. I don’t want to do a mouth-to-mouth CPR with a guy.”
Kai watched Sora sleep soundly in the infirmary of the guild headquarters. The ECG showed a normal heart rate now. In fact, he seemed completely all right, overlooking the fact that he was covered with bandages from head to toe.
Kai wondered how many times he had sat like this next to Sora when he was recovering from the injuries he had received during his training. Sora was no stranger to pain, but Kai always felt worried.
There was a shout and the sound of someone slamming against the wall outside. Kai got up and opened the door of the infirmary.
Jake was holding Sean up against the wall by the collar. He seemed furious.
“I’ve had enough of your selfishness! How could you let him fight them alone? And the Aryan tag team of Vishal Raju and Vikram Arikath of all people!”
Sean uncharacteristically shouted back, “You think I knew those guys would pop up? This was a B rank mission! I thought that Sora could take on whomever they sent with ease. Those guys are A ranks.”
Jake retorted, “They were Aryan contractors for god’s sake! And they were aware that Lucifer’s Fall contractors would come. On top of that, their client was Edward Cott, a billionaire! He could afford even S rank contractors if he wanted to! If you had just sat and thought about it for a minute or so–”
“We didn’t have a minute or so. We had to get the stone before the Aryan contractors did. If we had wasted time thinking about it like you said, we might’ve been too late.”
“SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU.”
Both Jake and Sean turned to face Kai, who seemed pretty annoyed. “Jake, this wasn’t Sean’s fault. If anyone was to blame, it would be Sora for being too weak.”
Jake was taken aback. “Kai, those Aryan contractors might be just seventeen years old, but they’re rumoured to be one of the strongest tag teams in the world. And Sora might be strong, but he’s nowhere close to them. And he doesn’t have as much experience either.”
Kai shook his head and said, “Those are just excuses. All those small facts can’t be a reason for his weakness.”
Sean said with a grimace, “That’s
too harsh, Kai. He did really well against them. I wouldn’t have been able to snipe them if they weren’t already tired from the fight with Sora.”
The door of the infirmary opened again. Sora said, “Keep it down, would you? Half-dead man trying to sleep here.”
Sean asked, “Sora, what are you doing out of bed?”
Jake raised his hand. Sora was suddenly levitated into the air and pushed back into his bed in the infirmary. The others walked into the room and shut the door.
Jake said, “You’re in no condition to move. I suggest you rest properly and not move till you recover completely.”
Kai said ruthlessly, “You’ve become soft. I didn’t realize you’d be this weak…to get trashed about this badly. I’m disappointed.”
Jake said furiously. “Kai!”
Sean was enraged as well. “That’s enough Kai. You’re being too hard on him. It’s not fair.”
Sora waved his hand and said, “It’s alright, guys. He’s right.”
Both of them spluttered, “Sora!”
Sora went on, “I have something I must do. And I have to be strong enough to do it. Losing to anyone else is unacceptable. Guess I have to train more.”
Sean and Jake didn’t know what to say. Kai turned and said, “It’s good that you understand. Now rest up or Dr. Reed will have my neck. Guys, keep an eye on him. I have some things to do.”
He left the room and the door shut behind him. He let out a sigh and covered his face with his hands. He began walking aimlessly.
He bumped into Steve Hancock. Steve said, “Watch where you’re going, Kai.” He took a look at Kai’s face and said, “What’s wrong? You seem troubled.”
Kai pulled himself together. He realized he was in the dormitory, the twenty-fifth floor. He turned back to face Steve and said, “Oh, nothing. Just a little dazed, that’s all.”
Steve shook his head and said, “You’re a bad liar, Kai. Come on, spit it out.”
Kai sighed and said, “It’s complicated.”
“So, it’s about Sora, is it?”
Kai raised his eyebrows. Steve grinned and said, “Come with me, will you.”
Steve took him all the way to the roof of the building. Kai had never been there before. It was a very wide terrace with a few chairs placed near the fenced edge. Steve sat on one of them and said, “Come on. Take a seat and enjoy the view.” Kai took the seat next to him and gasped.
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 14