Absolute Soul
54. Knife Raid

Haikal and Heru's eyes widened to see the number of blades controlled by the cloaked figure. Never before had they seen a Blazer capable of controlling that many knives by himself.

The cloaked figure did not wait for the two to adjust, he slid several knives at once leading towards Haikal and Heru.

"It's nothing!" Haikal exclaimed loudly while swinging his left arm with all his might tore through the air creating a stream of wind that blew the blades away in a single motion.

Heru did not waste the opportunity created by Haikal, he immediately kicked the floor and moved as fast as possible approaching the cloaked figure intending to net a punch or kick before he returned to attack.

The little smiling robed figure responded to the actions Haikal and Heru had anticipated, "You guys underestimated me too much."

He pulled his hands together after saying so, suddenly a number of knives that crashed thanks to the wind raging from Haikal flew back towards him—no, more precisely pointing at Heru's back which was now wide open.

Heru smiled realizing the arrival of these knives, making the cloaked figure frown for a moment before being startled by Heru's next move that leapt high upwards as the flying blades were only a few centimeters away from his back.

The smile of the faded cloaked figure realized this was already planned by Heru, he spread out his ten fingers and instantly the blades stopped in midair.

The cloaked figure wanted to say something after his blades stopped, but before that happened Haikal took a swing and pushed his right fist with all his might forward smashing through the air, "Air Smash!"

The whirlwind created by Haikal's punch shot so fast that it hit the blades belonging to the cloaked figure that had stopped, now pushed forward towards the opponent's body.

The cloaked figure widened his eyes before clucking in annoyance and exerting several blades hovering around his body fended off the blades in a short period of time. All the knives were successfully repelled without any significant problems.

The combination of Haikal and Heru did not stop there alone, Heru who was still hovering high enough above was now attracted by gravity while raising one of his legs high eyeing the head of the cloaked figure, "Guillotine Drop!"

The eyes of the cloaked figure looked at Heru full of shock, but he did not forget the moment Heru was launching an attack. He threw a small number of knives flying around him towards Heru, but only a split second after he had deployed his knives, his eyes catching Haikal again releasing the Water Smash and throwing all his knives.

The cloaked figure clucked in annoyance for a moment before taking a huge step back dodging Heru's attack. In the end Heru's feet only managed to hit the floor of the building until the roof caused a large rift.

The cloaked figure glared wide enough to witness the power generated by Heru, "I can lose if I take the attack directly," he muttered inwardly feeling the danger towards these two young men in front of him.

Heru clicked his tongue when he realized the cloaked figure had managed to dodge his combination attack with Haikal, yet he could understand it considering his current opponent was not an academy disciple he used to face in the Welcome Tournament.

Haikal immediately ran a little closer to Heru, "You okay?"

"Yes, thanks to your help," Heru replied not taking his eyes off the cloaked figure.

Haikal heaved a sigh of relief realizing Heru had not suffered any injuries from either the knife attack or his own Water Smash. Although Haikal quite often trains and uses Air Smash, it does not mean he can set the direction of the trajectory perfectly.

Water Smash is a technique that pushes a certain amount of air that is suppressed by pure physical force. Applying this technique alone is difficult if you do not have the physical strength that is capable, let alone direct it perfectly.

As Haikal and Heru spoke to each other, the cloaked figure laughed out loud making the two instantly take a full standby stance.

"I didn't expect any first-class students like you to know the Knives Drive technique," said the cloaked figure after his laughter, he then looked at Haikal and Heru curiously, "Can you tell me why you know that? As I recall only academy students are at least second grade in order to be able to recognize let alone anticipate this technique."

"We often do research on the world of per-Blazeran earlier than other students," Haikal replied not intending to cover up the truth, Heru nodded softly in agreement with Haikal's words.

"We also knew it was a technique that relied on threads made from soul energy, one of the rare techniques that was difficult to realize," added Heru pointed at the distance of the blade that was still floating with the body of the robed figure— perhaps more precisely the thin thread connected with the fingers and arms of the figure.

The eyebrows of the robed figure lifted on hearing Heru's statement that quite attracted his interest, "Heh, you guys are interesting brats. What an amazing conclusion."

The figure nodded his head slowly before breaking open the robe and taking out more blades hanging all over his body, "Then there is no reason for me to hide all of this!"

The blades began to float and move around the cloaked figure in terrifying numbers. Haikal and Heru gulped unconsciously when they realized that the number of knives might exceed a hundred.

"Hows it? My control is pretty good as a Knives Drive user, isn't it?" The robed figure smiled broadly at Haikal and Heru's reaction, and then he slid dozens of knives at the two at once, "Knives Raid!"

Haikal took a swing to prepare to deploy Air Smash once again, "Heru, hurry down after I throw a part of it!"

Heru nodded slowly preparing to do Haikal's words, but before the two of them could react dozens of blades changed the pattern of his attacks that had previously gathered into one like a knife vortex, now spreading in all directions.

The cloaked figure laughed out loud in response to Haikal and Heru's plan, "The same way won't work a second time."

Haikal gnashed his teeth for a moment before closing his eyes gathering as much soul energy as possible on his hands, moments after which Haikal reopened his eyes and pushed his fist with all his might, "Air Smash: Overload!"

In that one push, the air around seemed to gather and form a small wind vortex at one point, then threw out dozens of blades in an instant along with the cloaked figure quite far away.

Unfortunately at the same time, Haikal was thrown by the actions of a large amount of air pressure that suddenly gathered and exploded. Luckily for Haikal, Heru managed to hold his back so that he was not thrown so far away.

"Thank you, Heru." Haikal heaved a sigh of relief noticing Heru supporting his back.

Heru gave a small smile in response and patted Haikal on the shoulder, "No problem, friends should help each other."

He then turned his gaze towards the direction where the cloaked figure should be standing, but the only thing he could see at the moment was the roof of the building which had suffered quite severe damage thanks to Haikal's attack.

Heru took a few steps forward to ensure the situation, his eyes then found the cloaked figure that was their opponent was now sitting and leaning his back against the wall of the building about three buildings from where they were standing without awareness.