212 Chapter 212- Crazed Rookies (Part 1)
Kai looked up with a cold expression as if he didn't understand what happened for a moment before he rushed outside. There, he found Eva and Aria who also noticed the commotion and were already on their way to the door to check what happened.
Opening the door, they were met with a rising cloud of smoke coming from the floor beneath them. The smoke was certainly coming from a fire that ignited in what seemed to be the landlord's house.
Rushing down, the trio found themselves with a sight that was straight out of a nightmare. The whole interior of the house was gone, what was before a beautiful apartement filled with flowers was now just a chaotic mess of fire. The smell of death permeated the place as if it were an actual infernor.
Kai didn't wait a second as he quickly killed the fire with a move of his hand. Then, they rushed inside.
There, they found a burnt corpse lying on the ground, it was that of the landlady. Kai froze for a second before he frowned slightly and approached the burnt corpse to check if there was still a pulse, as long as there was a pulse, he could save her.
However, he already knew that it was a far-fetched dream, the woman was dead.
"Oh no…" Eva's expression shifted as she held her face. She knew this landlady, not for a long time, but she knew her, and she was a very kind woman. Whenever she came here, she would greet her warmly and Eva grew fond of her even if they weren't truly acquaintances.
The only one who didn't have a noticeable reaction was Aria as she approached the woman and crouched down.
"I can give her a pulse." She said to Kai.
The latter looked up for a moment before he nodded his head. "Do it."
Aria then put her hand on the dead woman before she channeled her Origin. Inside the woman's body, the Origin stimulated whatever was left of the blood in her veins that didn't leak out of her cracked, burnt skin.
However, this wasn't really effective in returning the woman to life since she was technically dead. Moving her blood would still make her heart thump even if by force and that was all Kai needed.
'There is a pulse.'
Quickly, he used his powers on the landlady, and in a matter of seconds, the woman's skin started healing and the blood seeping out of her pores dried and stopped moving. It didn't take long for the woman's normal appearance to come back to how it was.
"Amazing…" Aria murmured to herself. She had seen Kai use whatever this power was before but it was way weaker than now. Before, he could barely heal a small injury and it would take ages to close up.
'He really worked hard…' Aria felt secretly proud but also sad at the fact that she was probably one of the main reasons why he pushed himself to this extent to change and become better.
Such an evolution wasn't purely talent, it was also dedication to get stronger, to change what he couldn't change before. Many would look at Kai and think 'He's a genius like no other and could easily learn anything he wanted with minimal effort'. But, the truth is far from that.
Only Aria and a few others knew how hard he worked, more than anyone else. To learn so much in such a little amount of time, was ridiculous talent-wise and dedication-wise.
"U-Uhhh…" The older woman groaned in pain as she tried to move only to be stopped by Kai. "Don't… You're still recovering." He said.
"Is that… you, Kai, my boy?" She asked.
"What happened here?"
"What… happened? Wait… My son!!" The older woman seemed to sober up from her state as she tried to rise up with a horrified expression. "My son!! He… What? What happened here?"
'Her son?' Kai was rather confused at first.
He had never met her son before and he didn't even know she had one. But, considering the situation, it was normal for her to worry about him. So, Kai signaled for Eva to carry the woman outside so she could breathe some fresh air.
Meanwhile, Kai looked ahead of him at the ruined interior of the house. At first glance, one might think it was a gas leak or maybe a fire incident but Kai knew that it wasn't the case. The reason for that was simple… He could sense lingering Origin in the air.
It wasn't hard to predict what happened but it was still rather surprising that it happened this quick. Standing up, Kai walked slowly deeper into the house. All the rooms were burnt beyond repair and those who weren't as damaged were locked with nobody inside.
The only room that had someone inside of it was one with an old wooden door in a corner of its own. It had a sign on it to no disturb written with crude handwriting and a cheap pencil.
Kai approached the door and twisted the knob.
"D-Don't enter!!" Suddenly, a scream echoed in the house that made him stop for a second.
"Get out," Kai said coldly to the person inside who he assumed was the son the woman talked about.
"No! J-Just leave me alone!! I don't want to talk to anybody."
"Have you consumed anything?"
"...."
"Temporary Origin… Did you buy it?" Kai asked again.
"Y-Yes… But, I didn't know it would do this! I really didn't! I'm scared!!" The young man's voice was agitated and clearly panicked. Kai could even hear his fast heartbeat from here.
Kai sighed before he twisted the knob again, opening the door.
"I said don't enter!!" Suddenly, a raging explosion of flames welcomed Kai the moment he looked inside. The degree of fire coming from the flames was surprising. However, Kai didn't show any reaction as he swept the flame away with his hand as if he were trying to get rid of an annoying bug.
"W-What…" The boy was shocked when he saw what happened he crawled to a corner of the room and hugged himself as he shivered.
"I didn't mean to do it… I didn't mean to do it… I didn't mean to do it…" He shivered as he murmured again and again like a mantra.
"Get a hold of yourself. You almost killed your mother." Kai said.
"My mother is dead!"
"She's not. She's now waiting outside for you."
"No, leave me alone! I want to stay alone!"
Taking a glance at the boy, Kai could see that his skin was burning with fire. He was certainly a Fire Origin User. However, he had no control over his power at all, and that most likely caused this explosion that destroyed the whole house.
'That and this…' Kai thought as he scanned the room. Posters of all kinds of games, anime characters, and even certain popular singers and idols. Not to mention the burnt figurines, special T-shirts, and all kinds of other items. Kai finally started to understand why he had never seen this guy before because he never left his house in the first place.
That fact alone perhaps was the reason for this burst. He was already someone with a shattered, weak mental strength who got his hands on something destructive. The result speaks for itself.