How To Survive A Calamity

Large swaths of flames appeared like a broken dam out of nowhere, surging forward like a blistering tide.

The burgeoning flames ignited the air, and swiftly, the raging storm of winds was being rapidly devoured.

Flame couldn't burn without oxygen. The swath of flames as a result, instantly expanded even wider.

-Vwoosh!

"!!"

This time, spears of fire weren't formed or anything like that. Instead the powerful flames conjured by Deandra wrapped around Don's figure like a cocoon.

Instantly, bizzaro Don was cut aside from the world as he was entrapped in the fiery cage that enclosed him like a bubble. The powerful gales sharply ceased as a result.

"Ugh! This is as much as i can manage!" Deandra's urgent words were strained and raspy. Blood flowed endlessly like a stream from her nose and dripped on to the ground.

"Understood."

Immediately, at the same time, i started moving as well.

Deandra's intent were clear to me without having to say anything.

Instead of piercing through the wind barrier again this time, she opted to cancel it out by devouring the winds with powerful flames that were on her magical control.@@novelbin@@

Using those flames, she trapped Don in an enclosed space.

Don was probably on the other side right now, suffering from severe lack of oxygen and delaying the progress of charging up his powerful skill.

But this was bizzaro Don we were talking about.

"Arghh!"

He was a monster

Don began tearing down the flame cocoon from inside, and Deandra in her current condition quickly hit her physicall and magically limit.

However...

"You fucking annoying brat!"

There was a small immediate gap i took advantage of in that moment to swiftly move.

Ether flowed through my legs reinforcing my kuslecoamd ligaments, hastening my movements across the little distance. In less than a second i was unto Don just as the very moment Deandra's sealing spell finally collapsed.

Through to his already proven terrifying battle instincts, bizzaro Don covered in ash and burns was revealed, still barely holding a much smaller spinning vortex that had reduced considerably in size from in his hand, and already reacted to me.

But it was still too late, i had already clenched my fist.

"Wake the fuck up already!"

The muscles in my core and arm tensed as i smashed my right fist into Don's face hard enough to make his head jerk towards the opposite direction.

Maybe a tad bit too hard.

"Gu-huck!" A strange groan left his lips.

Don's body twirled and spun like a broken door threw the air, his arms flailing with blood and foam mixed from his mouth.

He spun into the ground and tumbled a couple of time, with disturbingly crunchy popping sounds as he did.

And then, finally...

He stopped moving.

"Haah... Haa.."

Don didn't get up anymore.

I withdrew my outstretched arm and clenched my fist close to my chest.

"That was..."

The most satisfying punch I'd ever felt!

"Victor...! Don... D-di you do it?" Deandra said as she struggled to rise to her feet.

Her lustrous red hair was completely disheveled, and her beautiful face was as drained as a pale ghost. She had burns around her neck and arm, and Deandra closely held the strange book up to her body as she stumbled forward and slurred her words.

Her eyes looked unfocused.

Silently, before responding, i shifted my gaze to Don's figure sprawled strangely on the ground.

I gulped.

"Uh..."

[He's alive.]

"He's alive." I tore my gaze away from his body and said.

Internally, i desperately tried to reassure myself.

'If Meta said so, then he's probably fine.'

I wasn't feeling remorseful that i might have punched his face a little too hard. Heck, no.

Don, that bastard, had this coming right since the first day we met.

"So..."

I relaxed my body and gave a deep and exhausted sigh.

"We did it. We won." Those words tasted bitter in my mouth.

This was Deandra and i, the two of us against one out of control Don.

I scanned my and Deandra's appearance.

Was that really anything to feel fulfilled and good about?

'Just Don...'

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Sure, maybe it's true we both weren't in our finest forms, and we were also trying to neutralize Don without killing him.

We had to be mindful of severely fatal wounds that could be life threatening to him, while he could go on and rage as much as he liked against us.

But all that....

I considered all of it mere excuses.

It left me feeling bitter to no end.

I stared solemnly at Don's body. There were still tears of blood down his swollen face, and his right arm and shoulder was mangled. Especially his fingers; they were cut and shredded by his own skin. It didn't seem like it was a Skill he had entirely mastered yet.

Today I'd witnessed the true strength and terrifying potential Don as a Supernatural had.

And even in less than half my full strength, i could barely manage a 16 year old kid who was rampaging.

I had my own circumstances, as well. It was true i didn't use everything in my ability, or do everything i could, but it still left me feeling prickly.

I had mixed feelings about everything.

On one hand, there was a source of small relief.

Aegis was grooming future warriors and humanity's Heroes like this and they were promising. Deandra, too, was overwhelming in this confrontation.

After fighting side by side next to her i could tell, she was strong and held immense potential for someone her age.

As expected of the second ranked cadet.

Don, Deandra, Ceres and even Alexander; there were also those like my sister, Adrienne; if these kids were to grow up and mature fully, they would become incredible asset to mankind and Aethoria in the war of supremacy against Demons and other races.

That somber thought was my silent source of relief. It felt like a very small weight had been lifted off the immense burden i refused to acknowledge that i carried.

But at the same time, that burden had also become even heavier.

Even with these children's high potential as future assets, the world still ended. Everyone was dead.

Where were they when the sky was falling and collapsing? When the ground was made to an entire sea of rolling flames?

Perhaps they had died off somewhere early without being able to truly live up to their true abilities.

Or perhaps they did, but even then their strength was still insignificant in the grand scheme of it all.

The thought made my heart heavy.

In the end, they were all dead.

"Haa..."

Ignorance truly was bliss. Knowing the future was a curse more than it was blessing.

My mood was all somber.

"H-hey, i know you said you'd give him a good punch, but couldn't you have hit him a little more... softer?"

Staring at Deandra who went to inspect Don's condition despite her own, she looked flustered around his injured body and unsure of what to do, i felt heavy and solemn.

It was that kind of feeling like having found hope, only to have it snuffed out just as the same.

I parted my lips slightly and exhaled a small sigh and struggled indifferently.

"Don had that coming since the first day."

"Victor, you... Haa..."

But...

Hope was like a flame, it could still be rekindled or kept alive.

It could be kept.

I have no idea what happened, or happens in the future of this world. But standing right before me were it's vestiges.

In Deandra, Don, Chelsea, Ceres, Alex, Adrienne, and possibly every other cadet of Aegis were the sparks of this world's future and hope.

I merely had to survive, no matter the outcome.

They would have to fight for the survival of everyone else and the world, something i couldn't do.

'Alex...'

And then i recalled,

Alexander, he was alone in the vision.

But what if he wasn't?