Kirin lay flat on the ground, looked up at the sky seeing the clouds disperse, he felt the wind against his body and knew for a fact that he was entirely naked.
"Shit"
He had also found another eerie fact, he seemed to have total immunity to lightning. This was something he had never heard of nor had he expected it. Anyone could be attacked by any element, even the one that you were primarily trained up in as the base for your cultivation. He had never heard of a case where one had total and complete immunity to an element.
Yet here he was, completely unscathed by the attack that came from the heavens, he smiled at himself as he covered his eyes with his right arm, the tears swelled up but he pushed them down.
He had survived, he escaped death.
Kirin heard footsteps walking towards him and turned to see who it was. Tharros looked at Kirin, his jaw slack, eyes wide with surprise.
"By the gods, boy you actually survived that?" Tharros asked genuinely surprised.
He had never met a single human who had survived that attack of his unscathed, and yet here was an underaged pale-looking boy, lying naked at the core of his attack. The thought made him shiver.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to attack like that, I would have done things differently," Kirin cursed while he did his best to hide his stark nakedness. He felt embarrassed, but more than that, he felt used. He felt abandoned and now he felt disdain towards Tharros.
Tharros sighed.
"I didn't know what to tell you boy. I doubt you would have understood, but I told you to protect me so I could cultivate and heal my leg injury," Tharros said, pointing at the place where a deep gash of flesh could be seen, it wasn't completely healed yet.
Kirin saw this and calmed down, he looked at Tharros, "Then how did you make that attack? It was... Powerful" he admitted, although he had near immunity, he could feel parts of his body being stiff from that attack.
Tharros smiled at himself proudly, "Of course it was, it's one of my ultimate techniques. Unfortunately, the thing that took Greg's body escaped, I've been looking around for that one" he said exhausted.
"Can you teach me?" Kirin asked, suddenly forgetting all of his frustrations.
Tharros smiled "Boy, everyone learns stuff like this at the academy, I'm sure you know why the lethality of attacks differs from person to person".
"Because of the soul energy and intent" Kirin answered.
' I can't believe I'm being lectured while I'm butt-baked', he sighed.
Tharros nodded, "Exactly, at the beginning of the fight I hadn't used much soul essence to begin with which was why I was able to put in just enough essence into that attack to kill them off," he said pointing at the ground where the melted rocks had begun to cool down slowly.
Tharros pulled off his coat and threw it at Kirin, "Come on kid, we've found what we were looking for, let's head out and go back to the clan " he said calmly.
"Wait, what about our fallen comrades, don't you think we should look for them?" Kirin asked hesitantly.
"Fallen?" Tharros asked, looking confused. Then he understood what Kirin had meant and began chuckling.
"No boy, it seems I forgot to tell you but on my missions, I prioritize the lives of my comrades over to mine so if the mission gets too dangerous, It's an order for them to pack up and run away, reporting back to the clan no matter what," he said before walking off.
Kirin quickly stood up and donned the cloak given to him, it was thick and furry and smelled of sweat, he began following Tharros, watching where he stepped, careful not to disturb any other sleeping creatures that may be around.
"So, they're headed back to the clan?" Kirin asked after he caught up with Tharros.
Tharros thought for a bit, "Well you see I'm not exactly sure, those men haven't ever been the type to run back when I said so" he said as he continued walking.
Unsure of what he should say and how he should say his best words, Kirin spoke, "I saw some of your men die today, I'm sorry I couldn't protect them, I was too scared to move or do anything back then... Until I had someone to protect," he said looking at Tharros.
Tharros scratched his head before looking at Kirin, "How do I say this Boy, when we go to missions, we do so knowing that one of us may never return, we have accepted that because we have seen death face to face too many times to doubt it, it's the code we live by" Tharros said.
"Before death, life reigns supreme," Tharros started.
"Beyond death, life is sought anew" Kirin finished.
"Now let's go find those brats that abandoned me while I bled to death," he said with a wide grin on his face, Kirin followed after him feeling somewhat comfortable around the burly man. The wind currents did wonders to him as he walked naked under the coat.
"Also, tell no one except The Grandmaster about your invulnerability to lightning, no one else must hear about this," Tharros said in a low tone, Kirin was about to ask why, when Seth and two other warriors jumped down from a tree in the distance.
Seth tackled Kirin into a tight hug, "I thought you were dead" Seth said holding Kirin as tightly as he could.
"I also did too, Captain saved me in the most disturbing way" Kirin replied, Seth pulled away and looked at Kirin, only then did he notice.
"Where are your clothes" Seth asked, Kirin wasn't sure how to respond, he remembered what Tharros had just told him and didn't know how else to tell Seth.
"I hugged a naked man... A naked man," Seth said shivering, Kirin smiled as he watched his friend fool about, he was still the same Seth, even after what they had just been through.
The rest of the warriors came out, Kirin did a silent head count and realized that there were three missing. Three brave warriors never to be seen again, yet the men seemed unfazed, they laughed as they reunited with their captain.
All except one, he squatted on the ground and kept mumbling words to himself, Tharros approached the man and asked "What's with him? Did he hit his head or something?"
"No Captain, he's been like that ever since we began to fight those things and he's been mumbling one single word over and over again" one of the warriors responded.
Kirin walked closer to the man, just close enough to hear what he had been saying over and over again.
"Fluxxara."