Tsugi No Level

Chapter 18: Flight or Fight

KetsuEki stands alone. His umbrella was covered in darkness and his sword was stained with blood of the Palindra he has just slain. Not a single one survived the ordeal and KetsuEki was unscathed. He approaches the gate and looks for the cause of its rupture after being closed by Stitches.

"Hmm. I think I get it. One of their needles didn't close its hole properly. I'm going to have to give them an ear full after this."

He places his palm on the surface of the gate and closes his eyes. The gate starts glowing until it flashes a big bright light that eclipses the sun for a moment. The gate is now completely frozen.

"This should hold it for a bit. Now to wrap things up."

He turns his head back to the planet. He can see all the energy patterns and the dismay the planet is in. He sees a very big energy and assumes that it's the leaders of the Palindra. He places the sharp edge of his blade on the palm of his empty hand and slowly pulls it back. He removes the blade and immediately makes a fist. The inside of his fist starts to glow and while he is doing this the leader of the Palindra stands quietly contemplating what to do next.

The dust from his landing is still settling as the leader stands in front of Demo and Li-On. He is troubled by the news of the Prime Perfect being present. He is well aware that having a great number of fighters doesn't mean much in front of the overwhelming strength of the Prime Perfect. His gaze jumps all over the place as he is lost in thought and the remains of his kind is scattered about. He takes a deep breath, to relax his mind. He grabs his transponder and holds it up to his mouth.

"Prime Perfect Zalthira Enitha Somnia (The Prime Perfect is here, make survival your top priority and retreat."

The leader knows that if the Prime Perfect puts his mind to it he could easily wipe all the weak Palindra out without breaking a sweat. The best course of action is to draw the P.P.'s attention to reduce the chance of him going after the others. So the leader starts making his soul vibrate more and more violently. This allows the energy that resides in him to swell up several times over.

The sudden explosion of energy emanating from the leader is enough to create gusts of wind that bring up dust storms that force all those close to him to cover their faces. KetsuEki notices the big increase in energy and smiles.

"I'll bite."

KetsuEki rushes down towards the leader. In no time KetsuEki lands in front of him. But instead of facing the leader, KetsuEki is facing Li-On.

"Old man Tril Li-On. You look a little beat up. You aight?"

"Little Eki, you're a late. Isn't the Prime Perfect supposed to supervise Stitches?"

KetsuEki rubs his head as if he is about to make an excuse and smiles innocently.

"Hey, I had some book I wanted read."

Li-On shakes his head and slowly walks towards KetsuEki. When the two are in reach of each other they both put out their open hands as if they are about to shake hands. But the moment their fingertips touch each other they make a fist and hit each others fist. The clash of energy creates a small explosion. The two have done this countless times and they both smile as they have officially greeted each other. Li-On is the first one to speak.

"You got a little stronger since last time."

KetsuEki smiles and nods.

"You got a little weaker since last time."

"No one beats old age."

KetsuEki turns around to look at the leader.

"Is he the one who did all this?"

"No. There was another one who fled. This guy came as backup and right after you came."

KetsuEki then looks at Demo. Demo looks back at him, in awe of the strength and control KetsuEki emanates. KetsuEki senses something in Demo he can't place just yet.

"Have we met before?"

Demo looks at him and shakes his head.

"No."

KetsuEki's eyes fully open up in shock as he remembers where he knows Demos energy pattern from.

"You're the signal!"

Demo is confused as to what it means. He has never been referred to as the signal.

"What?"

KetsuEki has a troubled look on his face as he is trying to deduce how this could have happened.

"Once we are done here, you're going to have to come with me."

Li-On immediately knows that this isn't good news for Demo. And wants more information.

"What did he do?"

KetsuEki doesn't turn around to face Li-On but instead points his sword at the Palindra leader.

"That's what we are going to find out."

With those words, he focuses his gaze on the leader. And takes steps toward him. The leader responds in kind and readies his sword to meet whatever attack KetsuEki may try. KetsuEki throws a simple downward slash to test the leader's skill. The leader diverts the attack with a high level of skill. And then immediately counters. The two start fighting and the leader is able to hold his own.

Li-On walks towards Demo until he is next to him and grabs a small diamond-like rock from his pocket and puts it in Demos hand.

"Use this in the ship and go to the first location stored in its memory."

Demo has no idea what Li-On is talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Once I open the gate, run through it and use the ship to leave."

"Why?"

"if you leave with Little Eki, your life is over. Leave before he has the chance to take you."

"I can just beat him."

"KetsuEki is the Prime Perfect. He is literally the strongest man in this whole universe. I was only able to make it to the top 100. You are nowhere near ready to fight him."

Demo watches the leader and KetsuEki fight and is unable to track their movements with his eyes. He can tell that if he were to face KetsuEki right now he wouldn't be able to keep up. He looks at Li-On and nods.

"Will you be ok?"

Li-On laughs at Demos concern.

"Don't worry about me, I know how to handle Little Eki."

From behind his belt Li-On grabs a device he throws it on the ground and it opens a gate. Through the gate you can see a big ship. In front of the ship are Ten and his uncle with his mother. Demo sees Ten and smiles and starts moving towards the gate. He looks back at Li-On one last time.

"Thank you."

Chapter 18 Fin