Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Eya pulled herself back, away from their sight. Kakashi jumped and ran inside the house.

Kakashi spotted Ray in the middle of the house, moving his wand all around the place as pieces of glasses and chinaware were flying everywhere.

Kakashi shouted, "Hey!" Ray nodded his head in a sudden panic.

The things he was carrying with his wand collapsed on the floor.

"Take us to him. Quick, take us to him1 Run from here, move!"

Ray was confused but he said, "Let me fix this." he lifted his wand and the things off the floor again and began putting them back together.

\'Ah fuck, it will take ages for this man to arrange some measly things.\'

Kakashi pulled his hands together and lifted them up, he tilted his head as he muttered the repairing spell.

Things accelerated. Crumbled pieces turned into spots, the blood showered on the floor was cleaned off the floor and the tiles were left shiny again. The curtains, the glass windows, the crockery-- Kakashi helped Ray set the things perfectly.

But it all seemed strange to Ray-- he knew his speed was not that good. He turned around to glance at Kakashi.

Kakashi jerked his hands down and stood straight. "W-wow, such speed..."

Ray turned back to admire how clean his work was and, indeed, how fast it was. He nodded his head with a hum.

"Now please, if you would, I want to leave this place. Take me to him!"

Ray turned and walked down the stair. "Okay, okay, what is the hurry?"

"Bus? Or run? What way are we taking?"

"Neither." Ray walked past Kakashi and exited the house.

For the final touch, Ray lifted his wand and placed the wooden main door back in its place.

"No need for either of them." Kakashi and Eya exchanged glances when Ray grabbed Kakashi\'s hand and strode towards Eya.

Eya hesitated but let the, for her, creep grab her hand. They walked out of the woods, into the long road-- right in front of Hitori and Kamiya, just a hundred meters away.

And whoosh. The three of them disappeared into thin air.

Kamiya came to a sudden stop and looked at Hitori. "Are you listening? What happened?" Kamiya pulled the shopping bags together, narrowed his eyes, and tried to look at what Hitori was staring at.

"Nothing." Hitori shook his head. Kamiya nodded and stepped back.

"Oh."

"You may continue," Hitori said.

"Ah, of course. So yeah, that is how Akemi-nee-chan and I have been since childhood. She always took care of me passionately-- as if I were her son! Ha, ha, ha!"

Hitori smiled back and nodded. But on his mind, there was one thing: He saw something disappear near the woods-- in front of his house.

After walking for another minute, Hitori and Kamiya reached the house that still stood alone and snowy.

Hitori disposed of any suspicious thoughts and climbed up the porch. Might be my imagination, Hitori thought as he unlocked the door.

"Ah, shit---" Kamiya, in the middle of the snow land, dropped one of his presents from the bag that was overfilled.

Kamiya first dropped another bag and then reached out for his wand. "I hate using magic in cold. Levitation." He levitated all four bags inside the house while Hitori took care of his luggage.

Kamiya bent down to pick up the present while the bags entered the house. He got up from his left side and was about to take a step when he froze.

His smile dropped and a serious expression climbed. It was hard to detect the burned pile of dry woods when everything was brown and black, but when Kamiya spotted the burned patch of woods... he gulped.

"Has it begun?" He thought.

Huge brown color walls, Eya and Kakashi were nothing but insects in comparison with the walls-- well, Eya feels like an insect even in front of normal walls.

Ray jerked Kakashi as he took them towards a door that was pure white in color. A grin tried to spread on Kakashi\'s face. \'His obsession for perfectness has increased, I guess.\'

"Sir, permission!" Ray called while standing on the other side.

"You may enter, Ray."

Eya\'s eyes lit upon hearing the old Atama-sensei\'s voice that had turned even rustier than before.

The door clicked and Ray took both the prisoners inside the office. It took Eya and Kakashi a few seconds to get adjusted to the office full of bright white color.

"And these are?" Atama asked with a straight face.

Both of their faces went blank, they dropped their heads and stared at the floor, without grinning this time.

"They were already inside the house before we arrived," Ray replied. "They were tough but I somehow managed to defeat them."

Atama glanced at Ray then back at the prisoners. His eye twitched and his brow wrinkled a little-- as if he recalled something from the past.

"Ray, you may leave us alone." Atama jumped off his table and walked down his working site.

"But sir---"

"I can handle them, just spare us some time." Ray bowed his head. He walked to Atama\'s table and placed the maroon and black color wands.

"Sir." He walked out of the office.

Eya and Kakashi glanced at each other without lifting their heads.

"Who are you?" asked Atama, who was strolling near his table, carelessly or overconfidently with no wand in his hands.

Eya bit her lip to try and suppress her laugh.

"I asked, who are you. Who sent you? Why were you there, inside the house, today?"

And she could not suppress her laugh anymore. "Hahahahaha!" Atama\'s eyes widened when the prisoner laughed.

Atama reached for his wand-- tugged by the side. At the time he brought his wand forward to point at Eya and Kakashi, they both tensed their wrists and snapped the cuff into pieces.

Atama took a step back. Kakashi and Eya raised their heads-- smiles on their faces and tears in Eya\'s eyes.

"Oh my god, I can not---" Eya broke out laughing again.

"Do not laugh---" and he could not hold his laughter either.

Thankfully, Atama\'s office was soundproof, Ray, standing outside, could not hear them talking.

Ray glanced to his side and saw Man-1 walking toward him. "How is your injury?"

"Not much, sir, just that my arm feels numb." Ray nodded. "What actually happened, sir, by the way?"

"Ah?" Ray threw his man a glance. "A-ah, well. I first threw the lady out through the glass windows but cracked my spine. While I was healing, the man pointed his wand at me. But I managed to snatch his wand and point mine at him. The lady came back, I held the man by his neck and threatened her that if she does anything funny, I will kill her boyfriend."

"And then?"

"Then what, I cuffed them." Ray adjusted his robe.

Atama\'s nose bulged in anger. "Stop laughing." He threatened Eya with his wand.

"Oh~ Atama-sensei~" Eya gradually stopped her laughing.

"Alright. Now, stop laughing---"

"Who are you?!" Atama shouted.

He strode towards Kakashi and aimed his wand against Kakashi\'s neck. "What business did you have with the kid?! Why were you at that house?!"

"Shit---" Eya grabbed her stomach. "Is that how you look when you are angry? My god, hilarious!"

"Damn you, do not you care about your life?"

Atama stepped back and jerked his wand. A bolt of lighting went past Eya\'s hair and struck the wall behind her-- spoiling the white color.

"I will ask again, Why did you want to kill him? On whose orders?"

"Orders?" Kakashi squinted. "Do you think we work on someone\'s orders?"

"Then why. See, answer me properly or I will torture you in the depths of the Torture Dungeon."

"Oh..." Eya covered his mouth and stopped laughing. "T-they exists?"

"Come on, of course, not. He used to scare us with that line before but now we know the truth and we are not students anymore, Atama-sensei."

"Students?" He frowned. "Ah, shame on me. I graduated students to become killers. The hell with them."

Atama turned and banged his table. "What will Hiro-Kun say when he knows that I build an academy buy graduated killers."

Man-1 said, "So you defeated them, sir?"

"I did."

"Or... do you think they handed in themselves?"

Ray paused. He hesitantly turned to Man-1. "What do you mean?"

"They were strong warlocks, sir, on a level we could not even dream of defeating."

"W-war-locks?"

"The man summoned his wand without using a wand. The woman moved the sofa without grabbing it. Warlocks."

Ray\'s hand started trembling. "N-no---"

"So... are you sure, sir, that you defeated them?"

"Atama-sensei, we are not killers. We are Saibai Hitori\'s protectors. We got into a fight with your men because we thought they were here to kill Hitori."

Atama swung around. "How do you know that name? Why?"

"The same reason you know that name, sir." Kakashi smiled.

Atama frowned. "W-wait... no..." he stepped back. "T-those two-- little---" He gestured to a kid\'s height.

"Oh damn! It has never been any more fun teasing you, old geezer!"

"Eya..." Atama\'s mouth dropped open. "And Himbo-Kun."

"Pfft!" Kakashi\'s eye twitched.

"Look what you two have turned into." Atama dropped his wand and spread his arms.

"Beautiful and handsome, right?" Eya rubbed her eyes as she run towards Atama.

Kakashi hugged him at the same time. Atama sobbed before saying, "No. Tinnier than ever and himbo-ish than ever."

"I am not tiny!" She was buried in Atama\'s arms.

"Do not call me that."

After their small reunion, Atama was throwing a debate with himself: whether to tell them about the wand and the letter or not.

"Sorry, sensei," Kakashi said. "I killed one of your men."

Atama snapped out of his thought process. "W-why? You could have---"

"Because he chanted a curse that was forbidden: Shinigami no Noroi. I can not stand there, watching, as he kills me and Eya-nee."

Atama seemed convinced. "Good. What information do you have about Hitori?"

"He is living with his friend who is working with the enemies. Hitori-san is obsessed with gaming and plays for twelve hours a day. Next, he is not paying attention to his real life-- outside the game. And he has formed enemies of---"

Atama nodded his head. "So you want to say: \'Everything.\' I understand." Atama sighed. "But Hiro-Kun..."

"Hiro-san... do you know anything about him?"

Atama turned and shook his head. "Nothing. Where he is, who is he with, when will he come back, will he come back or not... nothing."

"Kyoryu... he is our last hope then."

"Is Kyo-Kun back yet?" They both shook their heads. "Look out for Hitori, my child. I will when the Christmas holidays end and the academy reopens."

Kakashi took his maroon wand off the white table, then he took the black one and tossed it to Eya.

"Please do so, sir." Kakashi and Eya walked near the door.

"We will take our leave. We have to take a last look at Hitori tonight. Bye~" Eya smiled and waved her hand.

With Atama\'s permission, they both teleported out of the office, into the academy. Then they teleported out of the empty academy.

Atama turned to read the letter again when a sudden knock startled him. "Come in."

The door opened and Ray walked in. He glanced around the office while Atama pretended to adjust his table. Sneakily, he lifted his finger and cleaned the lightning mark on the wall next to Ray.

"W-where are they, sir? Did they escape---"

"No one can escape from me, Ray." Atama looked down at Ray and adjusted his frame. "I have killed them and taken care of their bodies."

Ray could not believe the words he heard. Killed two warlocks without making a sound? \'Perhaps they were not warlocks.\' he thought.

"Do not let this out though, you may leave."

Ray, totally confused, left the office. \'K-killed? But were not they warlocks? Killed, just like that? Or-- is Atama-sensei really such a powerful warlock?\'

Let us leave him confused for the rest of his life.