As he regained control over his body a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him. His body ached from all the dodges and maneuvers it did just a few seconds earlier. He had a plan, but was unsure how long it would take to complete it. He decided to try and end it quickly, though he had a failsafe.
The moment he fell to the ground he started running towards his opponent. The man swiped his hand horizontally. Taiji was only a few steps away from being able to slash him, when a huge wall of fire appeared in front of him. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the fire he realized he was running too quickly to stop himself. In an act of desperation he stabbed the ground with his sword and used it to stop himself from running straight into the fire.
The fire wall began spreading rapidly and before he could escape it encircled him completely. He was trapped without a way to escape. It was too tall to jump over and he couldn't go straight through it. The man stepped through the fire, his cloak still burning. He threw his cloak in the air. Underneath it was a man in his mid 40's. His black and gray hair was reaching his neck. A scar across his face from one cheekbone to another gave him a menacing appearance despite looking skinny and frail.
"Why did you attack this town?", Taiji screamed at him.
"For you", he replied in a raspy voice.
"For me? Why?"
"I'm a bounty hunter. Intergalactic Military put a hefty sum of money on your head. 16 million Mits. It is to be expected due to you being a Power user and all. Thought that doesn't mean much when your power level is lower than mine."
Taiji let out a heavy sigh. He saw many bounty hunters but none of them were after him. Why were they after him now? He lived for years safe, unknown and distant. There was no way he did anything recently. So why was a bounty hunter after him?
He didn't have time to finish his thoughts as the man already leapt towards him, sword drawn. Taiji barely managed to dodge the slash. He jumped to the side while drawing his sword. He quickly jumped to his feet, just in time to block another slash. They stood there, once again, in a deadlock. But this time Taiji was ready. He had been drawing out this fight to regain his power stamina. He didn't have much, but it was enough to finish the fight. His opponent was getting tired which made him hasty. The man launched a fireball point blank at Taiji.
This was the moment Taiji was waiting for. He used the remaining stamina he had left to create a small barrier. Fireball deflected from the shield straight into the man's face. The explosion was big since the barrier could deflect an attack and amplify at the same time. The man got thrown back, smashing into the city clock, bringing it down on himself. Buried under the rubble, he stopped moving.
As Taiji recovered his breath he looked at the destroyed city.
"Its all gone. Thanks to me", he said quietly in a sad voice.
He turned around and started slowly walking towards his ship. "If they put a bounty on me recently and came here so quickly I have to run. I can't let these people die just because of me", he thought to himself. His walking was slow due to exhaustion so it took him much longer than he wished to reach the ship. He opened the door and walked inside.
The main corridor was empty as always, branching in 3 directions. He went right towards the cockpit. "Hello captain", said a mechanical voice.
"Set a course for Tornell III. Maximum speed.", he said while typing todays events in his personal log.
"Yes captain. ETA-2 days."
"Take a route outside of the Military authority and give me time analysis."
"Understood captain. Rerouting. New ETA-5 days."
"Set a course and depart now. Wake me up if something changes", he said while walking out of the cockpit towards the corridor.
"Yes cap...", he couldn't hear the voice from the door closing behind him. He walked through the corridor and this time he went left towards sleeping quarters.
He entered his room. It was nothing special but it was his home. It had a desk he used for writing and reading, shelves filled with data discs on his research, a holographic screen (holoscreen) that he used for accessing the files. His bed was neatly done with hospital corners and covers tightly wrapped around the mattress. Next to his bed was a sword stand. He took off his sword and placed it on top of the stand. The sword was a katana with a blue handle with green lines curving around it. The guard was gold and blue with purple dots. The blade was one sided like all katanas with purple, green and blue lines spherically going up the blade and converging in tip. The saya(scabbard) was made with a similar design but with lines going in the opposite direction of the lines on the blade. One distinct feature was a symbol engraved into the blade near the tsuba(hand guard). The symbol meant "Dimension". It was written in an ancient language that Taiji couldn't read but he instinctively knew what it meant. The blade told him after all. It told him its name as well, "Jigen", which also translates to "dimension". Taiji knew the meaning for a while but never questioned how the blade talked to him. He let it go a long time ago.
As he put the sword in its stand he sat on the bed and stared emptily into the ground thinking about all the lives that were lost, the damage done, the dead mercenary. All because of him. He couldn't sleep that night. It plagued him and made him sick to the point of vomiting. Finally as the clock ticked 8 am he fell asleep from exhaustion.