Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

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Ryker's POV:

Akihito left me one thing; a formation.

A battle formation, complete with notes more advanced than I could've written in an entire notepad. A true testament of Akihito and Maxwell's abilities. Now it was my duty to convey them to the class.

"Listen up!" I called out, "This situation is life or death! Maxwell and Akihito carefully curated a battle formation of offensive, defensive, and supportive positions for all of us, now including you two, Izora and Coda!"

I wearily glanced at them, then continued.

"Carlos, Coda, Izora, and Maxwell when he returns will be on defense," I said, "Sasha, Rowan, and Akihito when he returns on offense, and Milo, Astaroth and I will be on support! The farther your range of attack is, the farther back you will be!"

I held up the formation so everyone could see.

"So let's do this thing!"

As my class sorted out where they'd be standing, I sparkled some fairy dust on myself to float above it all. I could see the small figures of Akihito and Maxwell bringing the giant Zay bot back to us. All we had to do was wait.

I tried to keep a cool head, but deep down, I was terrified. Terrified that this would be the end of me, the end of everyone, and that we'd all just be another victim of this devastating war. But despite it, even though I didn't want to, I thought about him. Kenichi. What Kenichi would do.

Kenichi was never scared to put up a fight. He never hesitated to put his life in danger for the sake of others. Even though he was reckless, even though he did bad things for the right reasons, he was what I wish I was; confident.

But as I stood, or floated, here now, I felt the tiniest bit of confidence in myself and my fellow classmates. A slight feeling that we could do this.

I just worried about the repercussions.

Akihito and Maxwell were almost to us at this point.

"Alright!" I shouted, "When I say rush, we rush, got it?"

"Right!" I heard a few of my classmates yell.

"And..."

I saw both Maxwell and Akihito slip behind the corner.

"NOW!" I yelled.

There came Zay.

I swooped down near the ground, hovering, so I could get a good sense of what was going on.

Akihito attacked first. He got close enough to us, whipped around, and with it, threw five giant fireballs right at the bot. Then I heard Milo yell, "Inferno increases instantly!"

The fireballs grew dramatically and didn't seem to burn this bot, but surely distracted it.

"Sasha, now!" I heard Maxwell call.

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Sasha blasted herself into the air and created a wave of pure solar energy, and one glance at Milo told me they had another plan.

"Explosion expands exponentially!" Milo blurted.

Before my eyes, the large burst of solar energy that Sasha let out got even bigger. I watched it slice the bot slightly in the head, just enough for a chunk to be hanging off.

"Seriously man?" Astaroth growled, "That was absolutely phenomenal!"

"Well, you know what to do now," Milo said to him. "Make it worse!"

I saw one of Astaroth's rare smiles appear on his face. "That's what I'm good at."

Izora was in her devil form, blocking all sorts of attacks with her speed. Coda had her octopus tentacles wrapped around one leg, and Carlos was restraining the other. But due to his size, I knew this wouldn't be able to last long.