Advent of Cataclysm.

"I'll fight, nobody is allowed to touch that girl." Kai declared.

"If you're serious about hurting her, I'll make sure you never walk the land of the living again," He stared at Shin, his eyes still trickled tears, and he was sniffling, the grief from losing his stepmother was still ripe and burning.

But even with his emotions all over the place he still manged to focus his hatred in one direction, the weight behind his words caused Rai to reach for his weapon, and Yui to ball her fists, taking a step towards them. 

"It's okay, stand down," Shin glanced at them, unlike the others that had shown hesitance and uncertainty, he was the picture of calm and serenity. "Don't hold back, give it everything you've got." 

Shin's emerald eyes shimmered and began glowing slightly, and the small space they were occupying suddenly went quiet when the strips appeared on Kai's arms, on the exposed parts of his legs through his torn pants, and on his face, but unlike before there was no discolouration in his eyes neither did he seem like he was losing control.

"Is this really okay, I mean, there's no way the elders won't order an attack if they find out what he is if we let him live, right?" Tami nudged Rai's arm and he shrugged.

"Let's just see what happens first, if he's any kind of promising I can try pulling some strings as well," Rai responded to her with his hand under is chin scratching the small hint of a growing beard. 

"Then-" Tami's words dissipated into a gasp of shock when Kai who was several feet away closed the grounds between his opponent faster than she would have been able to react, similarly, Shin raised his head and parried Kai's fist to the side, his eyes widening and his pupils expanding in surprise when the hand that Kai hit was thrown over his head. 

"Whoa there," Shin chuckled, parrying several fast punches and watching as Kai's footwork steadily improved with each punch he threw.

"He actually has a little skill..." He commented, blocking the last punch and raising his heel in Kai's stomach forcing him to halt as he slid across the ground holding the point of impact and then falling to his knee, coughing. "I'm not convinced just yet though." 

Kai stared at him weirdly and then at Ava who stood on the sidelines, for a brief moment the image of her corpse flashed across his mind and the teen clenched his jaws. "I won't let you touch her," Kai growled, standing and taking a deep breath. "I won't let any of you-"

"That's all talk!" Shin made the first move this time, approaching with a classic punch that should have easily been dodged, but to his shock Kai clenched his teeth, demonstrating perfect form as he challenged the punch head on accepting the blow to his jaw and grabbing Shin's arm, pulling him into a headbutt.

Chuckling again, Shin easily dodged the attack and tapped his head causing him to stagger off to the side.

"He's just toying with him," Yui huffed amused. 

Unable to see anything beyond his recent grief and desperation, Kai continued to rush at Shin attacking relentlessly until they ended up on the lawn of Andrews's home, and it was there that the fight came to a halt when Shin dodged the last attack and his fist slammed into the tree on the lawn breaking his knuckle on impact.

"Okay, that's enough," Shin waved his hand, but had to dodge again when Kai attacked with his other fist while holding the other hand to his chest, after seeing what they were capable of he was desperate to save the girl, he wanted to keep her alive, at least her, just her if he could, he struggled through the pain and started attacking again. 

"This kid..." Rai's brows furrowed and the man displayed annoyance and a bit of disbelief as he stared at them. "He reminds me of Shin when he was an academy rookie," 

"Yeah," Yui agreed nodding. "And considering what he just went through..." She paused. 

"They could be considered the same person, right?" Tami added and the three of them nodded, unitedly agreeing with her assumption as they had come to the same conclusion. 

"He might say he is against it, but he hasn't tried ending the fight yet, I think Shin wants to save him." "Rai concluded, watching Yui put away her weapon and relaxing. "He probably already has some weird idea about how he's gonna torture the poor kid."

Kai continued attacking, even when his breath was terribly out of balance and his hand had swollen he continued fighting, unable to land a single blow, unable to even touch the other party, he finally stopped attacking after his legs gave out and he fell to the ground unable to move an inch further, gasping for air so loudly that everyone could hear him from across the road breathing like a dying moose.

"Are you finally done?" Shin loomed over him and asked, but then raised his hand and slapped Kai's fist away when he tried to punch him from his position on the ground. 

"You... don't get the right," Kai gasped and swallowed, forcing himself to his knees and crawling towards Shin. "I won't let you harm that girl." 

"Why not?" Shin raised a brow and Kai paused, pressing his broken and swollen hand to the ground and screaming out in pain as he stood. "Why is she so special to the vessel of the devil? Is she chosen for some kind of special purpose?" 

"Because!" Kai snapped, wiping the sweat off his face and balling his good fist, limping over and blowing the hair out of his eye.

"She's not anything special, she gets bullied, and she has a shitty life, but she still shows me kindness and sticks her nose in my business, she's not like me, she is nothing like you, she's just a normal girl with really bad taste in men."

"She's too innocent; she's gonna die when the world starts falling apart." He began staggering forward. "She's an idiot; there's no reason to ever keep her near me, but that's exactly what makes her so special, she chose me," He limped once more and then fainted on the spot, hitting the ground in a welcoming thud and passing out. 

"I have to protect her light."