Kairo slowly opened his eyes.
Pain coursed through every part of his body. The world around him was a blur of smoke, dirt, and distant cries. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, then it all came rushing back; the train, the explosion, the fall
His gaze shifted and landed on Rina, she lay a short distance away. Her body was motionless, but he could see the faint rise and fall of her chest. Relief washed over him, "Sis..." grunting through the pain, Kairo began crawling toward her.
"Rina..."
Before he could reach her, movement caught his attention several figures emerged through the smoke, Kairo froze.
They were dressed entirely in black. Their faces were hidden behind masks and scarves. There were more than six of them, moving among the fallen passengers, one of them knelt beside an unconscious victim and searched through their belongings, another dragged a body aside they weren't rescuers, fear tightened around Kairo's chest, one of the masked men reached Rina and grabbed her by the hair, lifting her head.
"This one's barely alive, boss," he called out. "What should we do with her?"
Kairo's eyes followed the man's gaze; a larger figure sat atop a massive rock overlooking the scene. He watched his men work while stolen valuables piled beside him, the boss smirked.
"Take whatever's valuable," he said lazily. "Then kill any witnesses." Kairo's heart nearly stopped. the bandit nodded and turned back toward Rina.
Suddenly...
BAM!
A fist slammed directly into his face, the man stumbled backward in shock.
Rina.
Though barely conscious, she had struck him with everything she had left as she grown in pain, Kairo's eyes widened, she was still fighting, the bandit growled and rushed toward her, Rina dodged awkwardly while still lying on the ground and drove another punch into his face, the boss watched with amusement.
"Hehhhh."
Rina tried to stand, before she could, another bandit appeared behind her and swung the butt of his weapon into the back of her head.
CRACK.
Blood spilled down her hair, Rina collapsed instantly.
"SIS!"
Kairo tried to get up, his limbs refused to cooperate, his body felt impossibly heavy his eyes locked onto the blood running down the side of her face.
His eyes remained fixed on Rina, blood trickled down the side of her face as she lay motionless. Kairo tried to stand, but his limbs refused to obey, every muscle in his body screamed in protest.
His chest felt tight, his breathing uneven. Something inside him trembled, his heart pounded against his ribs, it felt familiar too familiar like he had seen this before, like he had lived through this nightmare already.
the bandit tightened his grip on the knife and stepped toward Rina.
Something snapped inside Kairo.
"No!"
Something inside Kairo snapped, with a strained yell, he forced himself forward, the bandit never saw him coming.
THUD!
Kairo's foot slammed into the man's back, sending him stumbling face-first into the dirt, the impact sent a jolt of pain through Kairo's body, but he ignored it, the bandit rolled over, rage twisting his features.
"You little—!" He lunged.
Kairo reacted instinctively. Lowering his body, he slipped beneath the attack and drove an uppercut into the man's jaw.
CRACK!
Blood sprayed from the bandit's mouth as his teeth snapped together, biting deep into his tongue, the man staggered backward. Kairo didn't wait, he rushed toward Rina and dropped beside her. "Sis...!" his trembling hands reached for her shoulder.
Then a shadow fell over him, before he could turn
THUM!
A fist crashed into his abdomen; The air exploded from his lungs, Kairo's body lifted from the ground and flew sideways, he slammed into a tree with brutal force, pain erupted through his back, for several seconds, he couldn't breathe, a figure stood where he had been; The boss, he man casually dusted off his hands as if he had swatted away an insect, he turned to leave.
Then paused.
Kairo was trying to stand again, the boy's body shook violently. Blood streamed down his forehead. His legs barely supported his weight, yet somehow, he was still trying. The boss tilted his head.
"hmmm."
A faint smile appeared on his face, not mockery, Amusement, almost admiration. He walked toward Kairo, slowly, calmly as though approaching a curious animal, Kairo struggled to lift his head, the boss crouched in front of him, for a moment, neither spoke. Then the boss grabbed a handful of Kairo's hair and forced his face upward, their eyes met "Interesting," the man said, his voice was calm and gentle, even.
"How are you still moving?"
Kairo clenched his teeth, The boss chuckled, "You're not an ordinary kid, are you?" his gaze drifted toward Rina's unconscious body "Or maybe..." he smiled. "...it's because of her." Kairo's fingers dug into the dirt, The boss sighed softly.
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"You know, life isn't fair." his tone sounded almost sympathetic.
"Sometimes all you can do is watch someone important die right in front of you." Kairo glared at him. The man continued speaking as though offering comfort.
"If this is your fate, then perhaps you should accept it." the words were gentle, the meaning behind them was cruel, Kairo's vision blurred.
The boss leaned closer. "Don't worry." a cold smile spread across his face, "I'll show you how fragile that determination of yours really is."
Their eyes locked, for an instant, everything became silent, then Kairo screamed, agony tore through him; the world vanished, Blood everywhere, endless blood, the hillside disappeared the sky disappeared, rivers of crimson stretched endlessly before him.
The visions flooded his mind faster than he could comprehend, the horrifying images clawed at his thoughts, crushing his will beneath their weight. Kairo's scream died in his throat, his strength left him, his face hit the ground, the illusion vanished, the boss released his hair and stood.
Disappointment flickered across his expression "Just a child after all."
He turned and walked away, reaching the large rock overlooking the hillside, he sat down once more, below him, his men continued moving among the injured survivors, the boss rested his chin against his hand; then spoke "Take whatever's valuable."
His gaze swept across the wounded, "And eliminate the witnesses." The bandits nodded, one of them stepped forward and drew a knife, its blade caught the fading light, The target was Rina
Kairo's heart pounded.
No
No
NO!
Just as the blade began to descend....
WHOOSH!
A powerful gust of wind swept across the hillside, the bandit barely had time to react.
A fist slammed into his neck, the impact launched him sideways, another bandit turned in shock, a second punch crashed into his face, he dropped instantly. The remaining men stumbled backward, it happened so fast that Kairo couldn't properly follow the movements, all he saw was a figure standing between Rina and the bandits.
A man...
He wore a broad hat, a scarf concealed most of his face, the boss slowly rose from his rock.
"Well, well..." he said with a grin. "What do we have here?"
The stranger ignored him, instead, he crouched beside Rina and checked her condition, after confirming she was still breathing, he stood and turned toward the boss, the boss's smile faded, he lifted a finger "Take him down."
Five bandits immediately surrounded the newcomer, the stranger remained still, then they moved, a violent gust erupted around him. In an instant, he vanished, the next moment, he was already charging toward the boss; his fist shot forward, the boss's eyes widened, He leaped away at the last possible second.
BOOM!
The punch smashed directly into the giant rock, the entire boulder shattered apart. Fragments exploded across the hillside, the boss landed several meters away, anger replacing his confidence, that punch would've killed him.
A bandit leaped from behind, knife raised overhead; aiming to strike, instead of retreating, the stranger jumped straight toward him, midair, his hand shot forward and grabbed the attacker's face, before the bandit could react, his momentum was completely reversed.
BOOM!
The target slammed him headfirst into the ground, his palm still covering the attacker's face as dust and debris erupted around them, the bandit's skull slammed into the earth, his body went limp.
The impact generated another burst of wind; for a brief second, the stranger's scarf shifted, half his face became visible. The boss saw it, his expression immediately changed.
Fear Pure fear.
The remaining bandits saw it too, one of them staggered backward.
"Kurozai..." another's voice shook.
"No... it's Kurozai!" Panic spread through the group, the boss clenched his teeth.
"Retreat!" without hesitation, the bandits began leaping into the trees. One of them wasn't fast enough, Kurozai caught the man's ankle mid-jump, the bandit cried out; Kurozai pulled him back and drove a devastating punch into his face, the man crashed into the ground unconscious. The boss glared down from a tree branch.
"MOVE!" The surviving bandits immediately obeyed, one after another, they disappeared into the forest canopy.
Kurozai watched until they were gone, only then did he turn back toward the injured, Kairo had finally reached Rina, he held her hand tightly "Sis... are you okay?" fear trembled in his voice, Kurozai approached and crouched beside them, Kairo looked up "Is she going to be okay?"
Kurozai examined the wound "She'll live." Kairo released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.
"We just need to stop the bleeding," Kurozai. He slowly rose and looked around the hillside, smoke still drifted from the wreckage. Scattered survivors groaned in pain.
"The others need treatment too." His gaze returned to Kairo.
"Can you walk?" Kairo nodded weakly.
"I think so."
"Good." Kurozai pointed across the field.
"Check on everyone. See who's still conscious." Kairo followed his gaze, among the survivors were Rina's three crew members, along with two other passengers who had fallen from the train during the explosion, most of them were badly injured, the crew appeared to have taken the worst of the impact. As smoke drifted across the mountainside, Kairo slowly pushed himself to his feet, there was still work to do.
................
Smoke drifted lazily across the mountainside, the fires left behind by the explosion crackled softly among the grass while injured passengers groaned in pain.
Kairo moved from survivor to survivor as best he could, checking for signs of consciousness just as Kurozai had instructed.
Every step sent pain shooting through his body, but he forced himself forward, not far away, one of Rina's crew members finally managed to rise.
The man stumbled as he stood, clutching his side. His uniform was torn in several places, and one of his legs dragged slightly behind him as he limped across the field. Despite the injuries, determination remained in his eyes, Kurozai noticed him approaching.
"How are you holding up?" he asked. the crew member let out a strained breath "I'll live." his gaze swept across the devastation around them. Burned debris littered the hillside. Several survivors remained motionless while others cried out for help, "The attack was sudden. Nobody saw it coming."
"Whatever it was," Kurozai said calmly, "attacking the train was their objective from the beginning." the crew member frowned Kurozai continued; "The damage is worse than I thought." He pointed toward the injured passengers. "Right now, we need to get the wounded to a hospital," the crew member nodded immediately "Understood."
"Also, see if you can find a working radio among the wreckage. We need to contact the authorities and report that civilians were attacked."
"We're in the Clay-Haven region. Emergency services shouldn't be too far away." Kurozai added, "I'll check right away." Without another word, the man limped toward the smoking debris field.
Kurozai watched him go before turning his attention back toward Kairo, the boy had made it only a short distance, something felt wrong, kurozai's eyes narrowed. Kairo swayed where he stood, His breathing had become shallow. His face had lost what little color remained.
The adrenaline that had kept him moving was fading rapidly. "Hey kid." Kairo didn't respond, his vision blurred, the voices around him sounded distant, as though they were underwater, is legs trembled.
"Hey." The world tilted, he tried to focus on Rina lying nearby, tried to stay awake just a little longer, just until he knew she was alright, but his body had finally reached its limit, his knees buckled.
"HEY" Kurozai stepped forward, the boy collapsed. His consciousness slipped away before he could hit the ground, Kurozai caught him by the shoulder and lowered him carefully onto the grass, for a moment, silence settled between them.
The wind swept across the hillside, carrying with it the scent of smoke and burning metal, Kurozai looked down at the unconscious boy, the determination he had shown moments earlier should have been impossible for someone his age.
Yet somehow, he had kept moving, even after the explosion, even after the fall, even after facing death itself, a faint look of thought crossed Kurozai's face, "What a kid," he muttered to himself as he rose to his feet.
For now, there were still lives to save.