Kodak looked around himself, seeing Kiko looking down on him as he lay on the dark floor of the mindscape. He held his head in pain as he stood up from the ground. "Jeez, you didn't need to knock me out with your aura, Kiko," Kodak said with a tone of slight annoyance in his voice. Kiko just chuckled lightly at the response before briefly flaring her body up with an aura harboring destructive energy.
Kodak looked at the destructive aura, thinking about how different it was from kinetic aura, "Seems that it just pops up from an energy source, rather than an outside source like kinetic energy. I'm gonna make the most of this!"
Kodak's body flared up in response to Kiko's aura, becoming a dark void of purple that not only shrouded his body but also emitted its output of energy. Kiko looked at him, slightly surprised. "Okay, you catch on fast," Kodak smirked with confidence as his aura surged even more violently. "You're goddamn right I do!" Kiko looked at the aura with an unimpressed look on her face. "Calm down, Kodak. You're gonna burn through you're destructive energy pool."
Kodak then shifted immediately into a meditation position, circulating the energy through his body. "This feels amazing, Kiko." He said while the energy swirled through his destructive energy core. "Oh, wait, I have a question. Kiko?" He asked, wanting an answer he needed for the longest time.
She looked at Kodak and looked at him. "Sure, what is it, Kodak?"
"How come I only have one core of destructive energy? Could I make more?"
"Yeah, but just master this first core before you go making 30 cores without knowing how to do this properly."
"Noted."
Kodak then began to circulate the energy faster and more proficiently, gaining more power and control as he continued.
[Skill creation for Destructive Energy is unlocked!]
Kodak looked at the message before calmly stopping his circulation and standing up, his body feeling extremely light and powerful. "Whoa, I can feel everything, the ground and even behind me. It's like having a third-person camera without the vision."
Kiko smirked at Kodak's rambling and watched him channel the destructive energy throughout his body. "Looks like you get the gist of basic channeling and circulation with this powerful energy. Not only is this just a more destructive form of revenant, but this energy cancels out most toxins and poisons used on you."
Kodak nodded his head while gathering all this newfound information. "What about skill creation with destructive energy?" Kiko smirked at Kodak's question with a confident smile. "We create our skills by seeing what fighting style we use and what our techniques revolve around. For instance, you have an aptitude towards close-range and mid-range skills, due to your martial arts mastery and how you used kinetic wave burst along with kinetic shockwave."
Kodak then began charging the destructive energy within his body, feeling the burst of strength throughout his body. "Let's try something." He says with a look in his eyes. The energy then becomes a dark shade of purple flames. "It worked!"
Kiko looked at the flames and smirked. "Looks like Ashiro rubbed off on you, too much." Kodak ignored Kiko's playful teasing and concentrated on the flames, condensing them more and more as time passed. Until the flames shoot out of Kodak's hands in a straight blast of the dark flames.
[Skill: Blaze Wave created!]
Kodak smirked at the message as the flames glowed through the dark mindscape. "Looks like it worked." Kiko then looked at the flames, touching them with her hand. "Jeez, how terrifying." She said as the flames burned away at her flesh instantly. She then looked back over at Kodak as he was reading a message from the system. "Those flames not only harmed my physical body, but even my soul. That kid's a real monster once he fully realizes himself."
Kodak read the message from the system, looking at the description of Blaze Wave.
[Blaze Wave Description: A condensed blast of dark flames that not only harm the physical body, but also the spiritual.]
Kodak looked at the flames and then channeled the flames back into destructive energy. "I wonder what else I could do." He then tried using multiple sets of techniques that he had used previously. He first started with the Aura Applications technique that Kuroi had trained him to master.
[Skill: Destructive Aura Core created!]
It was vastly different when it came to the selection of auras to choose from the list that the system showed. Also, with the name it had, Aura cores.
Aura Core Selection:
Martial Destruction
Radial Destroyer
Menacing Destruction
Core Blade
Kodak looked over the names, testing out from up to down. Kiko then looks over his shoulder, looking at the name of the technique. "Oh, you unlocked an aura core technique. If only Kuroi could see this, he would be proud." She said while putting her hand on Kodak's shoulder, comforting him since she knew deep down he still felt bad about Kuroi. "Yeah, yeah. I'm a sad idiot now. Just lemme figure these aura cores out," Kodak said, his tone sounding slightly annoyed. Kiko pouted from Kodak's response to her light teasing. "Meanie." Kodak rolled his eyes at her pouting and focused on the aura cores.
[Aura Core Selected: Martial Destruction!]
Description: A fighting style of aura that uses explosive power in a close-quarters fight. Protecting and piercing the enemy in front of the user.
Kodak felt the explosive speed and power before even throwing a punch, but what surprised him even more was the fact that he felt his senses being more heightened than ever. He could already feel everything around him, but this aura core had amplified those senses even further. He then squeezed his fist and looked over at Kiko. "I need to test a couple of aura cores, you wouldn't mind, right, Kiko?"
She heard her voice called over from Kodak and smiled a twisted look at him. "I'm not gonna go easy on you for ignoring me earlier." A destructive aura shrouded Kiko, shaking the mindscape from her presence. Kodak then felt a chill shoot through his body as sweat dripped from the side of his face. "Fine by me."
Kodak and Kiko stared each other down, walking in circles and watching every move of the opponent in front of them. Kodak looked at Kiko's legs and then at her hips, seeing if she would rush forward and deliver a kick straight to his head. While Kiko was watching KOdak's arms and the midsection of his body, seeing if he wanted to rush down and deliver a crushing hook straight to her jaw. They then abruptly stopped, planting their feet into the dark and empty ground of the mindscape.
Kiko rushed first, noticing that Kodak rushed later on purpose, and this caused a smile to spread across her face. "Good job, I might give you a reward!" She yelled in excitement as Kiko inched closer with every second. Kodak kept the silent look, steeling his focus with unwavering determination. He could feel what Kiko could do.
Kiko then shifted her foot back, trying to thrust her heel straight at Kodak's face. But he could feel the attack coming and even see it. He ducked his head below the leg and punched her right in the face. Sparks of destructive energy burst as Kodak felt a weird sensation, and the system then popped up with a message.
[1st Destructive Martial Formation: Tenfold Impact Activated!]
At first, the attack didn't seem like much to Kiko until she felt the single impact become ten impacts. It caught her off guard as she was slammed into the ground, and Kodak's fist dragged her across the floor. Sparks of destructive energy crackled and surged through the mindscape, and the ground ruptured around them as Kodak looked at the energy around him, cracking and tearing through the ground. "(It's incomplete, the energy keeps flowing out of my body and destroying the terrain around Kiko and me.)" Kodak then began to gather the energy back to himself. The energy was immense and overwhelming to gather this little amount. Kodak then felt his legs collapse, but he got into the meditation position, coursing the energy through his destructive energy core.
Kiko then stood up, rubbing the side of her face that Kodak had brutally punched. "Jeez, you are a prodigy, aren't ya?" She said while looking at the pathways of Kodak's destructive energy core. "Move, I'm gonna try and help you circulate this properly." Kiko then sat right behind Kodak as he shifted over a little bit.
Kiko's hands placed on his back, feeling the pathways still twisted and contorted from the large amounts of mania that Kodak had absorbed. She then began to unravel the torn-up pathways, but Kiko took her time with it. Making sure Kodak wouldn't be hurt or retrained by this process.
Kodak felt the relief from the pathways opening up, but then a surge of mania surged within his body. This caught Kiko by surprise as she began to try and combine the remaining mania into Kodak's destructive energy. "You need to do the rest of this, improve your circulation process, and make sure you don't leave any spots for failure or lack of progress."
Kodak understood what Kiko meant and began to take over the circulation process of unraveling his disturbed pathways. "(Shit! Kiko wasn't lying, my pathways of my destructive energy core is seriously torn up. But give me a couple hours and I'll complete it.)
5:30 AM...
Ashiro and the others lay on the floor of the Kawanari house, accompanied by a couple of pillows and blankets. Fumiko rested sound asleep right next to Kodak as he lay on his old bed with Fumiko staring at his long hair and peaceful resting face. She then thought to herself, "(I refuse to be weak anymore. That brief encounter with Shiro proved it. I need more strength, so I can stand by you, Kodak.)"
She continued staring at Kodak's face as a dark shade of purple emanated from his body, the energy swirled around him, creating a spiraling aura that pulled Fumiko close to him, her chest pressed up against him as she smelled the mixture of French vanilla lotion and lavender candle scent on his skin. She sniffed once more, feeling the same addictive scent hit her nose as she held Kodak close to her. "You should know I want you to hear me. Cause I love you, please don't suffer alone anymore, just rely on me to comfort and hear you. Be my one and only." Fumiko clings even tighter as tears fall from her eyes, with the sound of her soft sobbing. "Please, don't stray away from me."
Kodak continues the unraveling process of his pathways. He then heard a muffled voice, not able to make out who it was. "Be my one and only." His face went red with embarrassment despite not knowing who said those lovesick words, but he ignored it and continued unraveling the pathways of his destructive energy core. Multiple hours had passed, about roughly 9 hours since he started.
A message was then shown from the system.
[You have successfully cleared up your destructive energy pathways!]
[Stats are being increased due to your body's newfound efficiency and output with destructive energy!]
Kodak stood up with a focused look on his face, his eyes glowing with a dark purple glow, his eyes then flickered a red tone, but only for a moment before turning back to their normal color. "Kiko, I need to test out a couple of things." She woke up, rubbing her eyes within the mindscape, looking around herself to find Kodak still awake and well. "Jeez, can you sleep?" He ignored Kiko's teasing and looked up, calling out to the system. "Open stats."
[Command Granted!]
Name: Kodak Kawanari
Title: Partial Destructive Ruler
Rank: A-Rank (supreme)
Strength: 75K
Speed: 70K
Destructive Energy Output: 60K
Destructive Energy Proficiency: 55K
Destructive Energy Pool: 65K
Skills: Destructive Martial Formations, Wingless Flight, Destructive Aura Cores, Destructive Shockwave, Blaze Wave, Combat Sense.
Formations Unlocked: Tenfold Impact.
Innate technique: Destructive Energy, Destructive Battle Arts(Locked)
Kodak skimmed over the list, looking from his strength stat to seeing that the destructive battle arts technique was locked away from him. "Ain't that just a bunch of horse shit. Hey, Kiko!" Kodak yelled for Kiko, prompting her to groan in annoyance. "Ugh, what do you want, Kodak? I'm trying to sleep!" She then waved her hand, and Kodak was kicked out of the mindscape and found himself in his house, lying next to Fumiko, who was wearing nothing but an old nightgown, while he was still in the dirty jacket he had on.
Kodak snuck away from the bed, finding that his items for the shower still existed. As steam leaked from the doors of the bathroom, Fumiko's eyes twitched as she woke up. Smelling a scent like sea salt. Fumiko then looked outside, seeing the bright light of the sun bleed through the maroon-colored curtains.
A message then appeared from the system.
[Artifact detected!]
Fumiko looked around the room, first the drawers, and then under the bed. Her eyes then darted towards Kodak's blade that hung on the wall.
[Artifact: Nagomi]
Rank: unable to calculate at your current level
Fumiko pouted in frustration as she couldn't even gauge the strength of the blade. "Oh, come on!" A door could then be heard opening from behind her as she shouted. "What the hell are you yelling about, Fumiko?" She turned her head and saw that Kodak was wearing black jeans held up by a belt he was wearing over them, accompanied by a white shirt and a dark purple jacket over the shirt. Fumiko whistled towards Kodak and patted him on the back. "Damn bro, you're gonna kill the ladies with this fit."
Kodak chuckled lightly and ignored Fumiko's teasing. "Yeah. Whatever. Now, how long was I out for?"
Fumiko quickly responded to Kodak's question with no hesitation in her tone of voice. "2 weeks." Kodak's face immediately changed from calm to stressed as he rushed towards the window. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S BEEN 2 WEEKS!?" He looked outside, seeing no revenant spirits, not even a faint scent or any traces of auras could be sensed as Kodak looked around the streets. He then looked back at Fumiko, grabbing her by the shoulders. "What happened while I was asleep!?"
Fumiko thought for a moment, thinking about what had happened during those couple of months. "Well, multiple people across Japan have unlocked revenant during this ongoing apocalypse. Causing multiple groups to be formed against the revenant spirits that still wander through Japan.
Kodak took a deep breath, trying to process all the information he had just learned in this short moment of Fumiko's explanation. "What is the purpose of it?"
Fumiko began thinking for a moment, trying to think of a simple way of explaining the current state of not just their small town, but Japan itself as a whole. "To combat the revenant spirits and to find any survivors. Our town is still unstable, but they need new revenant users since Shibuya is a mess right now. Hell, Japan is just a scrambled-up knot that gets ever so more confusing and twisted."
Kodak sat down on the bed with his hands placed atop his forehead. "How are the others?"
Fumiko nodded, explaining what others were doing. "Ashiro and Akari are helping around the neighborhood, trying to find any survivors within our town. Satsujin is in Kyoto, he seemed distant. Kyoka, however, returned to Seoul, so who knows how long she'll be gone."
Kodak felt a wave of relief wash over him, thankful that everyone seemed generally okay. Although the thought of Satsujin being distant gave Kodak a bad feeling about Jashi. But he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, he focused his attention back towards Fumiko. "Is there a purpose for money in Japan?"
"No, after the apocalypse of the revenant spirits, most of Japan is kinda chaotic at this moment in time. Most of Japan is ruled over by five major groups. Behemoths of Malice, a ruthless guild filled with sadistic murderers and rapists that wander the streets looking for their next prey. They linger within our town, hence why Ashiro and Akari are always patrolling for survivors. Many other groups reside as well, but they haven't even named themselves, probably cause they have no creativity. But regardless, I'd stay alert when wandering the streets."
Kodak smirked at Fumiko's warnings and grabbed a towel, drying his damp hair. "I seriously doubt they could take me, but I'll stay hidden for as long as I can, Fumiko." His words at first offended Fumiko, but she then quickly realized what Kodak could be capable of, after all, during those 2 weeks he seemed to be training within the mindscape. "You got stronger, didn't you?" A smile appeared on Kodak's face as he looked back at Fumiko. "Bingo. I can't tell you everything, but I evolved my revenant into a power source. In short terms, I have an energy source named destructive energy."
Fumiko's face filled with surprise as Kodak's aura emitted from his body. "You really are something else." The dark tone of the purple aura covered Kodak, but he quickly turned it off and asked Fumiko one final question. "Oh, yeah, what are we doing here?" He asked, wanting to know if she had something important. Fumiko thought for a moment before remembering a conversation she had. "My avatar, Kaguya, had an idea once you wake up." Kodak's eyes flickered with interest. "Well, do tell me. Is it some secret training or maybe some undercover mission?" Fumiko shook her head, disappointing Kodak's wild expectations. Then, what is it?" He said with a tone hinting at a sense of boredom.
Fumiko snickered a little bit before pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. "This, an academic school located in Kyoto that we were requested to apply for as soon as possible. Once you woke up, of course, call it a stroke of luck."