A chill ran down Sora’s spine. He asked, “Do you know me?”
The man grinned, exposing his yellow teeth. “There is hardly anyone who does not know you in our organization, Sora. Your escape from the airship after our job in Vento is well remembered. You’ve changed a lot since then. But of course, you were just a little boy then. But you seemed to have mastered the Twin Blades of the Wind very well, I see.”
Sora jumped back. “Don’t tell me you were among the people who destroyed Vento!”
“Well, technically, we weren’t the only ones who destroyed Vento, but yes. I was there. And-”
Sora was already charging towards him. He didn’t need to hear anything more. The only thing he wanted to do was to stick his blades into that man’s flesh.
“Sora, DON’T!”
There was a sharp pain in Sora’s stomach as he fell to the floor. But the man was still standing nearly ten feet away from him, with his hands in his pocket. Sora tried to get up again, but something struck him from behind. Sora instinctively backed away.
“I told you not to, didn’t I?” Vikram staggered to his feet and walked up to Sora.
“What was that?” Sora asked. “What the hell is his contract?”
Vikram winced a little and said, “You won’t believe it. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone have that contract. It’s supposed to be extremely rare.”
“It is,” smiled the man, folding his arms. “But General Malva was kind enough to give it to me when he saw that I have talent. I owe my life to that man. You should as well, Sora. He gave you the Twin Blades of the Wind, didn’t he? Imagine what you would’ve been doing if he hadn’t.”
Vikram stared at Sora, as though confirming if he had heard right. Sora spat, “Malva destroyed my village and everyone in it. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even need it! But since I do have it, the least I can do is take his pathetic life with it.”
Suddenly, an arm appeared in front of Sora and gripped his neck tightly. Sora couldn’t breathe as he stared in shock at the lone arm in front of him. The man was scowling at Sora and said, “You will not speak ill of the General in front of me.”
The arm loosened its grip and Sora coughed, gaping at the man, whose arm had disappeared and went back to the owner.
Vikram hissed, “Careful. That guy’s contract is the dimensional warp stone class contract. A real pain in the neck, he is.”
The man’s arm appeared back in place as he said, “I am Gorath Lans, captain of Squadron 13 of the Dark Alliance. Nice to meet you.”
Vikram hissed, “This guy is way above our league. If we’re not careful, he can kill us without blinking an eye.”
Sora had to agree. Gorath was easily on par with an S rank level contractor. There was no chance to beat him, unless...
Sora turned to Vikram, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he was. Though neither of them seemed to like it much.
“It’s temporary, but... let’s work together on this one.”
Sora and Vikram might not be on best terms. But there was nobody else who could understand each other’s techniques better.
“What do you know about the dimensional warp contract?” Sora whispered.
“It’s a contract that allows the contractor to warp any part of the body to any other place within a certain range. The duration and range varies depending on the contractor’s ability. I don’t know anything else.”
Sora bit his lip. “We need to come up with a proper way to avoid getting hit by his warp punches.”
“Are you two by any chance planning to fight me?”
Sora and Vikram both nearly ran out of the room. Well, who wouldn’t, when a floating head suddenly appears behind them and starts speaking? Sora swore under his breath. They were being extra jumpy because this was a fight where they had very less chance of winning. But that wasn’t going to stop them.
“Here’s the plan” Sora said. “We’ll both use our split step to its maximum. If we move fast enough, his warps can’t catch us off guard.”
“You call that a plan?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“Nope. We’ll go with yours.”
They both disappeared. Gorath, who was whole again, gave a low whistle. “Whoa. The split step! It’s been a while since I faced somebody who could use it. And you two seem very good as well!”
Sora first swung his Wind Fangs, but his blade just passed through the body.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Gorath said. Suddenly, a huge fist appeared above him and came crashing down. But when the emperor ape lifted its arm, there was nothing in sight. Instead, different body parts were sticking out of its hairy arm. The ape kept banging its arm all over the place but it only bruised its own arm in the process.
It didn’t take long for the speedy duo to realize that their opponent had a twisted sense of humour. Every time Sora released a wind smash or a blind scythe, Gorath would separate his body into many pieces and his head, which would hang somewhere up in the air, would start making faces at them. Vikram followed up with the emperor ape’s lightning attacks, but Gorath’s reaction was too fast for them.
“This guy is playing with us!” Sora said, panting. “He’s not even taking us seriously!”
“But it’s not like we can’t hit him. We just have to be faster.”
Sora stared at Vikram, but knew what he meant. If Gorath separated himself into multiple parts, it just increased the number of targets they would have to hit. So they just had to use attacks that covered a large area. Sora used his wind meteor, opening up a big hole in the wall. Just as Gorath was beginning to warp his body to the other side of the room, the emperor ape’s huge lightning attack filled the place.
For the first time since the battle began, Gorath was injured. It wasn’t too serious, but the lightning had caused a burn on his shoulder.
Sora and Vikram almost gave each other a high-five, but stopped in the middle of it. It might not have been much, but the fact that they were able to injure him had shown that defeating him was not impossible.
“You boys are better than I thought. I think I should stop playing around a little.”
He swung his arms. Both Sora and Vikram experienced a jaw breaking punch on their faces. But they were able to dodge the second one and began their split step. But things were different from before.
They couldn’t find even one moment of attack. When they thought they had an opening, Gorath’s hands would suddenly pop out of the ground or in front of their face. And his punches hurt like hell.
Even Vikram’s emperor ape was having a tough time with Gorath’s feet appearing in front of its eyes and stamping them.
“Don’t… you… have… some… kind… of… shield… technique?” Vikram asked whenever they ran past each other.
“Wouldn’t… matter… he… could… easily… warp… into… it!”
Sora suddenly got an idea. He kept running and used his Twister burst.
Just like he had hoped, Gorath’s arms got cut badly. He shrieked in pain for a moment and withdrew his arms. Sora and Vikram took their opportunity and carried both ends of the golden chest and ran out of the room.
As they hid inside a room where a set of uniforms were stored with the chest between them, Vikram asked, “Remind me again why we stole this thing?”
“Long story,” Sora said. “Let’s take a look at what’s inside first.” They opened the chest.
Inside it, placed on a soft silk cushion, was a long black barrel, more like a mini cannon. There were red markings of flames around it.
“Hey, is this... a Z grade weapon class contract?”
“Not just any Z grade contract,” Sora said. “It’s one of the legendary contracts of the dragon!”
“You’re kidding me! And why is it emitting that light? Your contract is doing that as well.”
Sora knew Vikram had seen too much. “That’s because my contract is one of the legendary contracts as well.”<
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Sora didn’t respond to the flabbergasted expression on Vikram’s face. Part of the reason was because someone contacted him on his radio then.
“~ This is the child seeker team ~”
“What’s the status? Did you find the kids?”
“~ Negative, they’re no longer in the airship. When the alarm rang, they were all loaded into an evacuation pod and have already been taken away. We were too late ~”
Sora stared. Vikram spluttered, “Do you think you could give them a chase?”
“~ Negative. They have too much of a lead. Also, if they have that technology that hides them from our radars, there’s no way we can track them either. ~”
There were sounds of explosions beneath them, signalling that the fight in the city had begun. Sora hoped the rescue operation was having better luck than they were.
Sora gritted his teeth. “Nothing we can do about it. Fall back to the hangar for now. Try to hold on for as long as you can for us before leaving. If we don’t arrive in five minutes, leave immediately!”
Suddenly, a pair of bleeding arms appeared around their necks. Gorath’s face also appeared in front of them and he said, “You two really know how to cause trouble. You aren’t leaving so soon, are you? The fun has just begun.”
There was a big explosion as Vikram summoned the emperor ape. Its gargantuan size could not fit inside the small room they were in. Sora suddenly got a new idea.
Vikram stared at him as Sora shared his plan with him and asked, “Can you do it?”
“Theoretically, yes. But if we don’t do something like this, we’re both going to end up in pieces just like he is.” Vikram nodded and went on with Sora’s plan. The ape and Vikram fended off Gorath’s playful attacks on Sora to the best of their abilities. They were in a narrow path now, so they did not have to fend from too many directions. Sora concentrated hard as he tried to use his Wind Fangs to the best of its ability.
Finally, Sora shouted, “NOW, VIKRAM!”
Immediately, the Emperor Ape blew a small flame, which suddenly became a huge explosion. There was a gaping hole, showing the city beneath them, as Sora withdrew the wind cage he had placed around them. Vikram panted and said, “It really worked... unbelievable!”
Sora nodded. He had taken in the surrounding air and released only concentrated oxygen gas around them. Being a combustible gas, even a small flame could result in a big explosion.
“Sora, is that you?” Sora turned and exclaimed, “Doctor! What are you doing here? You seem pretty beaten up.”
It was the same Dr. Gotry, who had treated Sora all those years ago. He said, “Those Dark Alliance monsters took over the hospital and held me hostage here in a room after beating me up. But it looks like we can escape now. Let’s hurry” The doctor froze. A burnt arm was in front of his chest, with a few fingers penetrating his skin.
Vikram was about to move when suddenly, he screamed and held his right leg. Sora was transfixed, as the arm less Gorath started appearing in front of him. Gorath was severely burnt and he did not seem to be in a playful mood anymore.
“That was good, Sora. An ingenious plan, it was. But I feel like fighting you alone now, so I cut off your friend’s nerve in his leg. And before we start, let me dispose of this worthless scum.”
And in front of his eyes, Sora saw the arm go deeper into the doctor’s chest. It came out holding a small heart that was still beating. And just like that, as the doctor gave his last scream, the heart was crushed.
Something seemed to have woken deep inside Sora’s heart. The splattering blood fell on his face and arms. Sora was no stranger to blood, but the sight of the red liquid on his arms brought up some kind of rage from deep within.
That was when Sora snapped... completely.
Kai had trained Sora in such a way that he never lost control over his contracts. And he did it very well too. Sora had complete control over his contracts at all times. But Kai always feared the one thing that’ll make him lose control over his cursed contract... emotional trauma.
Sora had never felt rage like this in a long time. His mind started losing all signs of logical reasoning. Nothing made sense to him anymore. The only thing he wanted to do was to kill.
Vikram writhed on the floor in pain, but he forgot all about his leg in an instant. Gorath too did not seem to mind his burns now. Both of them noticed the sudden hike in Sora’s ki.
“Why did you kill him?” Sora growled in a ferocious tone.
“Because I wanted to,” Gorath replied. But he wasn’t being playful anymore. For the first time, he felt threatened.
Sora hurled a punch. Gorath simply weaved to the left, but was too late to realize the Black Flame around the fist. His shirt caught fire.
Gorath immediately stripped it off and threw it on the floor. The black flames soon turned the shirt into ashes and even the floor was burnt.
Vikram gaped at Sora, who was hardly recognizable now. He didn’t appear conscious of his actions anymore. But what really caught Vikram’s eye were the black flames Sora had just dispelled. He could not believe the immense heat those flames were giving out.
Gorath was breathing very fast. “Sora, you have surprised me yet again. I had no idea that you could use the legendary black flames as well! This fight is really going to heat up!”
Sora shot another blast of black flames, but this time, Gorath disappeared completely. Vikram noticed an arm appearing behind Sora, getting ready to pierce him and was about to warn Sora when suddenly Sora turned and caught the arm and burned it.
Gorath’s screams echoed from multiple places along the ravaged area. He suddenly appeared as a whole, shouting in pain as his arm continued to burn. Then he did something unbelievable.
Gorath brought out a knife and chopped his arm off.
Vikram watched in horror as the arm continued burning till there was nothing left. Gorath had given his arm away so that the flames didn’t burn the rest of his body. But that didn’t mean Sora had the upper hand. Vikram’s nerve, which had been cut, was evidence of that.
Gorath had been able to warp his nail into Vikram’s leg and cut the nerve, meaning that Gorath only had to bring his arm out somewhere inside Sora’s body to cause some serious damage. There was no way anybody could block a brutal attack like that. Sora’s scorching flame would not be able to do anything about that.
Gorath seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he tried to stop the bleeding by wrapping his arm up in a bag he had found. Gorath warped the other arm in multiple places, making it appear with great speed all around Sora, trying to keep him from moving. But before Gorath could properly warp it into Sora’s body, there was a burst of flames around Sora.
Gorath could only watch in shock as his only arm caught fire. There was no way for him to cut it off either. The heat of the flames on his skin was unbearable. He wondered how Sora could bear the pain of the flames every time he used it as it ate into his skin.
The flames kept climbing up Gorath’s body. He could do nothing but roll on the floor in pain as the flames started enveloping him slowly.
Vikram couldn’t take it. He shouted, “Sora! Stop it! If you don’t, those black flames will kill him!”
Vikram’s voice somehow managed to reach Sora. The black flames suddenly disappeared.
The burns were terrible. Vikram couldn’t stand the sight of it. But Gorath was still alive and breathing, though barely. Sora started walking towards Gorath slowly.
The Dark Alliance captain faced Sora from where he was lying on the floor. He spoke, his voice a barely audible whisper.
“This strength... the general was right about you. The fate... of Gara... really will lie... on your choice. But you need... to get stronger, Sora.”
He glanced below through the gaping hole, which showed the city beneath them. The battle down there seemed to be reaching a conclusion.
“This city... might’ve been saved. But... how many... more do you think... you can? The enemies... you will have... t
o face in... the future... will not be so easy... to handle. Mercy... is not an option.”
To Vikram’s surprise, Sora spoke. “Mercy? I’m not showing you mercy. I didn’t want you to die by the black flames because I had sworn that I would take my revenge with the Twin Blades of the Wind. And nothing can stop me now.”
Vikram knew what was going to happen as the Wind Fangs re-appeared. But even though he wanted to, he couldn’t do anything to stop Sora from raising his swords and striking them through Gorath Lans’ heart.
Time seemed to slow down for Vikram then. The face Sora made then was like nothing he had ever seen before; a mixture of joy and sorrow. But it soon vanished as Sora closed his eyes and suddenly slumped back and fell on the floor. It was a few moments before Vikram realized that Sora was rolling towards the hole on the floor.
Vikram used all his remaining strength to summon the Emperor Ape again and made it reach out for the golden chest a few feet away. By the time it was back to pick up Vikram, Sora had fallen.
Vikram shouted into his headset, “Birds to the west side, NOW! Air parcel incoming!”
The ape jumped as well.
Sora was way below them, but the ape blew a strong gust of wind at the sky behind them to propel itself forward. Vikram stretched out his hand when they closed in on Sora and managed to catch him. With his other hand holding the golden chest, Vikram felt the last of his ki leave him and his trusted ape disappeared.
The two boys fell through the sky as the air ripped past their faces. Vikram noticed that the ground seemed to be getting closer to them. He glanced at the unconscious and burnt Sora and knew that this was not the way he wanted to die. But there was nothing he could do but fall freely down to the concrete below them.
A couple of vines shot out from somewhere and wrapped themselves around their bodies. Then a sudden jerk pulled them into a hovercraft.
Vikram hit his head against the wall and groaned. He waited for his eyesight to regain focus and then looked at the people around him and said, “Took you long enough.”
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 38