Bound By Fury:The Forced Path

Arcane Mana

Arcane Mana is the most exotic and enigmatic sort of energy that exists beyond the comprehension of most awakened.

Only a small number of people—those who have moved at the level of SS-rank —can even dream about wielding it.

It's capricious, warping reality itself well out of the scope of others mana.

Indeed, to control Arcane Mana requires not only immense power but, furthermore, knowledge and incredible mental powers.

Few masters of this art existed, and even fewer dared use it.

Akira realizes, as he stares at the homeless man, that this individual is far from ordinary.

He is something beyond anything Akira has encountered before a far far dangerous person.

"Boy,,, what you just saw?"

"That's Arcane Mana."

"Few can even sense it, let alone use it in this scale like me."

"Trust me, I'm being really kind by showing you wonders about it."

Akira's body tightens in a mix of anger and confusion, his fists clenched so firmly they shake.

He glares at the man while grinding his teeth.

"You're insane...beyond insane."

"You do know what you have done?"

"Those people-"

"Khekhekhe… I know exactly what I've done."

"And believe me, I have done far worse in my time,"

He sneers, canting his head with mock pity.

"But you, boy...you let yourself lose control."

"In public...without a plan."

"It's a miracle no one stronger came running at the first sign of that explosion of yours."

"Lucky to be me"

Akira narrows his eyes, his white eyes aglow with a faint light.

"You're no savior."

"-You're a monster," he spits.

The man lets out a sharp bark of laughter, leaning in closer until his face is mere inches from Akira's.

"Monster, am I?"

His voice lowers to almost a whisper, eerily composed.

"Boy, what you did out there...reducing a man to ashes in front of thousands?"

"That's what the world will call a monster."

Akira his jaws lock together.

"I don't need any help."

"And I didn't ask for any."

"Ah, but you do needed it."

"Whether you like it or not."

The man straightens up, his maddening grin still plastered on his face.

"This favour I did for you, boy, is the last one."

"From here on out, you're on your own."

"But hear now for your own good"

"Never lose control like this again."

"Even I would not dare to create such a racket in the middle of the day, with no means of retreat...you do not have my privilege of erasing all evidence in your wake."

The homeless man tone drops into something colder and more serious.

"I'll keep an eye on you, kid"

"I'm really intrigued by you...you have something even i don't understand"

"Don't disappoint me, keep amusing me more-keep pushing those limits of yours."

"But remember, maybe next time you get out of control, there won't be anyone to clean the mess."

Akira snarls, his aura suddenly bursting into flames.

"You think this is some kind of game?"

"Just watch, people die?"

"The man's smile spreads wide-too wide.

"Oh, but it is a game, and you, my boy, are the most interesting piece on the board i have for now."

Without waiting for an answer, the man raises his hand.

In an instant, the barrier that had held them captive starts to shimmer and dissolves like mist under sunlight.

Outside the barrier, reality remains intact, but inside, the thousands of lives that existed are gone.

Only the streets devoid of debris and empty air mark their absence.

Akira tries to move, and at this time his body is still sluggish as this man waves his other hand.

In an instant, Akira is taken a few streets away.

He stumbles, regaining control of his limbs.

The air here was eerily quiet compared to the chaos that he just was taken from.

"Damn it!"

Akira growls, turning around, trying to place this man.

As this is happening, back at the site, the body of the slaughter man starts to fade away-like smoke in the wind-but his voice carries across, coming as though directly into Akira's ear, soft and quiet.

"I will meet with you again,kid...but that won't be anytime soon.

"Till then, keep climbing, keep struggling."

"Keep suprising me"

"Remember to make me proud, khekhekhe!"

Akira's glare cuts right through the open air where the guy's voice is still lingering.

His hand is trembling in indignation, white aura crackling dangerously.

"I swear,"

He growls through clenched teeth,

"I'll make you regret taking the lives of the people today...I'll make you regret it.

His laughter echoes softly, a grim reminder of an overpowering force.

"I hope you do, kid...I really do,"

The voice says, fading out, now complete.

Akira just stands there, his chest heaving, his anger boiling just beneath the surface.

The street is gray and still, save for the heavy silence displacing the hum of the city.

The iron shackle of later happenings weighed upon Akira with every step he took through the street: the echoes of the massacre he had been a witness to, the futility accorded with that man, the lingering laughter in his ears-the whole thing felt like a dream stirred up by a fever.

He stops at a corner and presses his body against a lamppost to catch his breath. Fists clench and unclench furiously, the storm in him.

"What in the hell is he?"

"Akira's mind runs.

"He was playing with me"

"No-he was playing with the whole city."

"That wasn't just power. that was something entirely different."

"And me?"

"I couldn't lift a finger."

"Compared to him, I wasn't even a threat."

"Damnit."

He shoves off from the lamppost now, walking in haste.

"Need to get stronger, and a lot faster than I thought."

"No more time can be blown"."D-rank dungeons. never gonna cut it."

" C-rank and above-that is where I have to be on if I wanna level up fast enough to shrink the gap."

His mind shifts to Hiroshi reaching for his phone, he dials Hiroshi's number.

The line rings twice before Hiroshi picks up.

"Akira?"

"Didn't expect to hear from you so soon did you bring more magic stones" - Hiroshi says

"I need something" Akira says, his voice cutting and concise.

"Higher-level dungeons...C-rank and above.

A pause, then a sigh on the other side.

"C-rank dungeons, Akira?"

"Those are quite different from the ones you've been doing solo runs on".

"The monsters are smarter, faster, and stronger."

"And unless you've officially joined a guild or a party, they won't even let you in."

"You're still on that fake ID, right?"

"Yeah,"

Akira allows.

"But I don't have time for wasting on the low-rank stuff any longer."

"If that means find a party, so be it."

Hiroshi chuckles low in his throat. "Serious about that, ain't ya?"

How can you jump like that to dungeons what level of power you have awakened now im even more curious but... Alright, listen up."

"Find yourself a party."

"They'll cover for you on the official front, and your ID won't raise suspicion."

"But be careful-if you blow it, there's gonna be hell to pay, not just for you, but for all concerned."

Akira's fist clenches on the phone.

"I am out of options, Hiroshi-san"

"If I don't do this now, I will never get what i want."

"I have to keep climbing."

"Fine, fine."

"Just don't get yourself killed," Hiroshi says with a hint of concern in his voice.

"I can help you scout for a good party if you want."

"Thanks, but I'll attend to this myself,"

Akira responds decidedly.

"This is me owing you one again, Hiroshi-san"

"I Said it before don't mention it."

"Just...stay alive, okay?"

Akira hangs up and then forces the phone into his pocket.

His pace quickens with every passing moment towards the hotel, yet his mind refuses to rest.

"Even against that Nightfall fucker."

"I was reckless," Akira thinks, clenching his teeth in retrospect.

"If I hadn't attacked him at full power when he was most unguarded, I wouldn't have had a chance."

"His energy alone was suffocating."

"I got lucky...too damn lucky."

Anger surges up in him, his nails digging deeper into his palms.

"Damnit, Akira-you're still way too weak. You can't keep relying on luck. Not anymore."

He bursts into his hotel room, slamming the door shut behind him.

He reaches for his phone and browses to the website listing active dungeon raids.

His eyes pierced through the listings as C-rank dungeons flashed onto his screen one by one, intimidating yet teasing.

He clicked on one promising one and filled in an application to join that very listed party.

His fingers hovered over the "submit" button, and he pressed it finally.

Akira sat on the edge of the bed, his hands grasping over his face as his thoughts ripped through his mind like irrepressible beasts.

His chest heaved, not because of exhaustion but from the crushing weight leaning upon his soul.

"Thousands. thousands of people...gone just like that...because of me."

His fingers dug deeper into his hair as memories replayed themselves in his mind: screams, a blinding light, eerie silence afterward. It was all unreal, unreal-as it would have been had it formed part of some dream from which he could not wake.

"They were not fighters; they were not enemies-they were just. people, living their lives, and now. they are nothing."

He suddenly rose, pacing the room, as if movement could shake this guilt from his shoulders. "And for what?"

"Because I lost my cool?"

"But those people lives weren't collateral in some damn game."

"They weren't supposed to pay for my weakness."

Akira stopped and looked out of the window into the light of the city; this bright, pulsating world seemed to ridicule the void within him.

"I swear, I'll never be that powerless again."

"Never."