An Assassin's Respite

Who Are You?

The next day, Kazuna had switched to training his wind powers in order to give his hands a break. He had a bit better control over it thanks to him using it a bit before coming to the island, but the islands’ power was still making progress slow. As he trained, he noticed that he started to feel lightheaded.

“It appears that the drawback the island has on my wind is that it forcibly lowers the air pressure around me.” He notes to himself as he stops using his power.

He was still struggling with catching his breath and it felt as if his body was pushing out almost as much air as he was breathing in. He decided to head back to the hotel to rest. He walks over to Micheal in order to speak with him.

“I’m going to head back to the hotel. It’s been a while since I’ve used all of my powers, so I drained my stamina faster than I realized.” He states.

“Okay, I’ll escort you. Just let me find someone to watch over Matt while I'm gone.” Micheal replies.

Kazuna nods as he waits briefly before Micheal returns. They arrive at the hotel and Kazuna heads to his room.

“It seems that it’ll take some time before you’re able to use Karma and my power to their full extent,” Bahamut states.

“Mhmm. But, I will say that it was freeing to be able to use your powers,” He notes.

“Naturally so. Actively trying not to use your full power was taxing on your mind and body. There were numerous occasions where your body reactionarily tried to use Bahamut’s or my power but you had to force your hand to do otherwise. It was like running for your life, but actively trying not to run at full speed.” Karma explains.

“He’s right. Soon enough, your mind will once again be in tune with your body, and using our powers won’t be as taxing.” Bahamut adds.

“Right,” Kazuna says as he lies on his bed, before quickly falling to sleep.

At the library, Akeno was continuing her studies of human history.

“As much as it pains me, I think the best course of action is to let things play out. Athena definitely gave me information about future events and if I’ve learned anything from theories about time travel, trying to change the future can lead to worse outcomes than foretold.” She thinks to herself.

She continues to bury herself in the books around her in order to not think about the future.

Kagura was training hard in the mountains and was getting the hang of her improved power.

“Thanks to Kazuna and the time I’ve had to train, I've gotten used to this strength I’ve gained. Even so, it’s still not enough. I can be stronger.” She says to herself as she looks at her clenched fist. 

She was about to continue training when she felt someone approaching. She quickly turns around to see Kazuna.

“Oh, Kazuna, what are you doing here?” She asks.

“I just came to see how you and Ria’s training is coming along.” He replies.

“Oh, well uhm, it’s going well or at least I think it is.” She says while slightly blushing.

“I’m sure it is considering how hard of a worker you are,” He states.

Kagura began to blush even more before she shook her head from her daze.

“So, uhm, how’s your training?” She asks.

“Physically, I'm doing fine. It’s the mental barriers that are becoming an obstacle.” He answers.

“I see,” She mumbles.

“How can I help him? What can I say to him?” She asks herself.

“Do you know where Ria is?” He asks.

“Yeah she’s…” She begins to say but trails off.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She asks,

“Rimi. Where is she?” He asks once more.

“Oh, she’s over the hillside. I’ll take you to her.” She answers.

She walks off with Kazuna behind her and walks for a short time before they come upon an old building that was once used for storage.

“She’s in here?” He questions.

“Yeah, she said she wanted to train in privacy.” She assured him.

Once they enter, Kagura speaks up.

“So, how’s Matt’s training?” She asks.

“He’s still struggling with the increase in his powers' strength, but I'm sure he’ll be able to get over that hurdle pretty soon.” He answers.

“I see.” She mumbles.

“Oh, one more thing,” She says before turning to him.

“Who are you?” She asks with a deadly serious look in her eyes.

Kazuna wakes up after taking a short nap.

“Guess I'll go and get something to eat.” He says as he places a hand over his rumbling stomach.

As he starts to make his way towards the cafeteria, he feels a disturbing presence. His eyes become serious as he keeps his guard up and inconspicuously searches for the strange aura he felt. He decides to abandon his plans to head to the cafeteria in favor of following the presence he felt.

“Whoever this is doesn’t belong to either class and isn’t one of the special agents that were stationed here. Is it Zer? No, Zer’s presence was much more ominous, this person is just someone I’ve never met. Is this a trap? Or are they preparing to strike? Either way, I have to follow them. I can’t allow them to roam around and possibly attack one of my classmates. I’ll just have to hope that they’re not trying to lure me into a trap or that their trap isn’t a very good one.” He decides as he continues to follow them.

After a short walk, he stops in front of a room he hadn’t seen before.

“They’re definitely in here.” He notes to himself as his hand hovers above the doorknob.

He took a deep breath before swiftly opening the door and resting the same hand on the hilt of his sword, but to his surprise, the room was completely empty. Despite this, he still cautiously enters the room and surveys the area. There were no windows or furniture. There was a light on the ceiling and there appeared to be a vent on the far side of the room.

“That strange presence disappeared. But they definitely came in here, so how…” He wonders until a realization interrupts his thought.

He turns and tries to quickly leave the room, but the door shuts and the light goes out. He tries to kick it down but a jolt goes up his leg. 

“It’s not wood? What the hell is this room?” He questions.

He frantically looks around to see if there was any light seeping in but finds nothing. He takes a deep breath and calms himself. 

“Don’t panic, that won’t accomplish anything. Gather whatever information you can and work with that.” He thinks to himself.

He walks to the door and places a hand on it.

“I’ve never felt material like this. What is it?” He questions.

He runs his hand across the door and over the wall.

“The wall is made of the same material. This room seems to have been specifically designed to trap me. Which means…” He begins to think as he slashes at the wall.

“That I can’t cut through it.” He notes as he sees that he didn’t even leave a scratch on the wall

He sits down, crosses his arms, and closes his eyes as he begins to gather his thoughts.

“It seems the person I was following was leading me to this room in order to trap me. It’s safe to assume that the man that can create portals teleported them out of this room once they entered. The doorknob only allows you to enter and isn’t visible or accessible from the inside. The walls are made of a material that, as far as I know, I am unable to cut. They’re definitely trying to keep me away from something, but what? Kari isn’t on the island, so she can’t be their target. Yua could be a possible target since she’s Yuu’s daughter. She would be a very useful hostage for him. But if that were the case, then why trap me? I’m not training anywhere near her, so whether I’m trapped or not shouldn’t affect that plan, especially since I wouldn’t be able to oppose them if they had her hostage. Are they after Micheal? That is a possibility. It’s still possible that he’s in on whatever is happening. No, it can’t be that simple, there’s something I'm missing. There’s a better reason they’re keeping me contained than making it easier to take Yua hostage. What am I missing?!” He ponders.

He angrily tapped his finger on his arm as he furiously racked his brain trying to find the piece of the puzzle he was missing.

“It couldn’t be!” He exclaims as he jumps up.

“No, it’s possible, all the clues are laid out for that to be the case.” He mumbles. 

“What is it?” Bahamut asks as he manifests on his shoulder.

“Something that could be even more trouble than what I had originally thought possible,” He replied vaguely.

“We have to get out of here as quickly as possible,” He says.

He runs his hands along the walls, trying to find some weak point, but comes up empty. His hands soon come across the air vent. He had forgotten about it thanks to the door closing and the light going out. Unfortunately, it seemed to be made of the same material as the rest of the room.

“Master, I can feel a very slight breeze coming from there,” Karma says as he appears on his head.

“Hmm,” He groans.

“I could send Karma out to warn someone from my class since they already know about my dragons. No, that would put them in danger and create a panic. I don’t want to create chaos and give them a better opening. How else could I send a warning?” He wonders.

“If I recall, there’s an agent here with hearing that is far beyond that of any human,” He recollected.

“Karma, if I yelled for help, do you think you could send my voice out more?” He asks.

“Yes, but it still won’t be very audible. I’d say that only people pressing their ear against the exit of that vent would be able to hear it.” He answers.

“That’s good enough.” He assures him.

Kazuna takes a deep breath and shouts “VANESSA! CAN YOU HEAR ME!”

He pauses for a second to give her time to focus on her hearing.

“YOU’RE NOT HEARING THINGS. THIS IS KAZUNA. SOMEONE LOCKED ME IN A ROOM IN THE HOTEL. IF YOU’RE COMING FROM MY ROOM, TAKE THE ELEVATOR TO THE 1ST FLOOR, TAKE A RIGHT THEN PASS THREE HALLS BEFORE TAKING A LEFT. GO STRAIGHT AND IT’LL BE THE 7TH ROOM ON YOUR RIGHT.” He finishes. 

He gathered himself before taking a breath to calm down.

“Now, we wait and hope that she heard me and can find me.” He states as he sits in the center of the room and meditates, unaware of what was already unfolding outside.

“What… What do you mean?” Kazuna asks.

“You know what I mean. You aren’t Kazuna, so who are you?” Kagura asks once more.