In the split second it took Kalen to return his attention to the man after hearing those words, the distance that existed between them had almost completely disappeared.

Kalen's eyes widened. "What the—"

The calling resonated in his mind just as the man attacked with a blistering fast kick. Kalen dodged it, taking a step back, but he wasn't prepared for the unexpected strike so his balance was off.

The man capitalized on that, following with a second kick straight to his stomach. Kalen had never felt such power in a strike before. He was sent several meters backwards over the gap, landing on the other side while grasping for breath.

"Kalen!" Shiori screamed, coming to his aid.

"Oh, come on!" The man said. "Certainly you are better than that."

"Why are you attacking us!?" Shiori snapped at the man.

The man's face distorted into a smirk. "Why indeed... I could say it's just work. But who am I fooling? I really enjoy the hunt."

Shiori's face was a mixture of confusion and fear. No one could expect being attacked in the remote region their town was in. The stories of the conflicts they often heard from travelers seemed so... distant. The Emperor had a fierce rule over the continent and controlled every aspect of athreans lives, at least when it came to the main hubs.

It wasn't uncommon to hear about rebellions or mercenary groups beyond the great desert of Kelain — which isolated the southwest shores from the main hubs — but that was not the reality of Iroyama and the towns around it. There was no point in attacking such an unimportant region.

At that moment, however, the stories had become real enough for them. Still, Kalen was clueless as to why he was being targeted.

"Shiori, you need to return and let our parents know." Kalen said, his voice hoarse as he struggled to inhale air. "I'll hold him off."

"Not a chance." She said, regaining her composure and positioning herself in guard beside him. "We'll go back together."

Kalen wanted to insist she left but he knew the girl he loved all too well. She wouldn't leave him behind, no matter how many times he asked her to. Knowing she would be in danger should have increased the fear inside him, instead, having her by his side gave him confidence. Together, there was nothing they couldn't conquer.

"Seems you're ready." The man said. "At least make it fun for me."

With speed Kalen still couldn't fathom, the man jumped over the gap and engaged both him and Shiori at the same time.

Kalen had been taught by his master that when confronting multiple opponents, it was common to be in a reactive position. Not this man though. His movements were so fast and precise he was the one pushing them into defensive stances.

Under a sequence of potent kicks, Shiori and Kalen were limited to blocking and dodging. Every counter they tried was easily parried and worsened the already disadvantageous position they were in. Struggling against a clearly superior opponent, the only reason they could even put up some resistance was due to their harsh training under Ryuji.

The man moved in Kalen's direction with his right arm ready to strike. Kalen positioned himself to block but in a sudden motion shift, the man struck Kalen's ribs with his left fist. Kalen's training kicked in as he reacted to the man's attack and tried dodging. That prevented most of the damage the strike would have done, but it was still enough to send acute waves of pain across his nerves.

Gritting his teeth, Kalen fought the dizziness that came along with the pain while sending a cross punch directed at the man's chin. He easily blocked however, and elbowed Kalen in the chest, then caught Shiori's punch and diverted the momentum of her body, sending her tumbling to the ground.

It seemed the man was uninterested in fighting Shiori. At every opportunity he would separate her and focus on Kalen. Maybe he was trying to eliminate one first so it would be easier to kill the other afterwards, but his superiority was so evident Kalen thought that was unlikely.

Slowly adjusting to the attacker's speed, Kalen ducked beneath his swing and spun for a lateral kick. No longer surprising, the man was again able to parry his counter, but this time, at the expense of some balance. He was then forced to jump back when Shiori launched a strike of her own.

The man let another menacing smile form in his mouth. "That's more like it! I was beginning to think this was just going to be a boring night."

"Who sent you? Why me?" Kalen asked, panting.

The man snorted. "Are you really pretending you don't know, descendant?"

Kalen frowned, unable to make sense of the man's enigmatic response. "I don't know—"

The man dashed, cutting Kalen's words. Shiori tried intercepting him with a direct punch, but he blocked it with minimal movement and countered with a kick to her side, maintaining his momentum towards Kalen. Shiori gasped in pain and collapsed, while a series of sharp jabs kept pushing Kalen back.

Anger flared inside Kalen and the calling again resonated in his mind. Stepping back, his foot crushed the rock beneath it when he pushed himself to lunge at the man. His own movements became flashes of colors as he put all the strength he had in every strike.

For the first time, he was able to push the man back.

Kalen tried to make the man fall in the gap on the rock, but he was careful and leaped over it without needing to look back.

"If that is all you're able to do," The man said. "then I misjudged your worth. I am disappointed."

As the man prepared his stance, the temperature around the cliff plummeted and Kalen felt an ominous omen. Whatever fun the man had been trying to have until that point, it seemed he didn't care anymore. A white aura began enveloping his body, prompting Kalen to blink several times trying to confirm what he was seeing.

Was the man one of the mage warriors in the travelers' stories after all? If that was really the case, there was nothing Kalen could do to survive.

Despair took hold of him as he realized he was doomed. Not only because death awaited, but because Shiori would die as well. A collage of memories suddenly played through his mind and he clenched his fists. He remembered the story Seth told them.

Kalen focused on the calling and gathered the remnants of the mysterious strength inside him which he never understood. He would have wanted to look at Shiori's smile one last time, but that was a wish he knew he couldn't fulfill.

Tears fell down his cheeks as he jumped over the gap at the exact time the man dashed forward. The rock crumbled under Kalen when he landed on the other side of the gap, his punch crushing the ground beneath them as if it was made of thin glass.

"What—" The man tried saying before losing balance and falling with the collapsing cliff.

"No! Kalen!" Shiori screamed.

While the crushed dirt swallowed Kalen's body in his descent towards the ocean, he looked up, finding Shiori at the edge of what used to be the other side of the gap. The desperate look on her face pierced his heart, but he was relieved. She was not falling with him.

Ah... I couldn't ask her in the end...

Then, a blue light flashed brightly, and the World disappeared.