Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Akira led her to the lair. Kyoryu was waiting for her at the entrance. She bowed to him before hugging him.

"Why are you alone?" he asked, pulling her away from him after a moment of hugging. "What brought you here?"

Eya could not look into his eyes. She felt guilty for coming to him only when she was in need of his help, he was already doing his best to bring Kamiya back to life.

She took her time. She took a seat in the cave then calmed herself down, drank some water, then told him everything from the start. Tengoku, the mysterious man in the woods, Onogi, Reon, and Hitori attack Onogi's house.

Kyoryu had only one word for all she had told him. He said, "Oh…" Then turned around and went inside the cave.

She tried to stop him but she felt it hard to speak, so she stayed quiet. Akira watched from a distance as Kyoryu went inside. He did not bother to stop him either, he knew better than that.

She dropped her head in disappointment. I must have disappointed him… I must have made him feel angry– god, I just showed him how selfish I am.

Of course, asking for Hitori's protection from an enemy was her job and to grant the protection was Kyoryu's. But he had come from the Cultivation World not so long ago. He was tired from all the fighting there, yet he was trying to keep Kamiya alive.

She looked at the brown ground and then followed to the lair's mouth. Akira was sitting near the entrance with his hand lying on his side. She noticed something different about him.

He was wearing a black cloak– something like Mahoutokoro's uniform. The black jeans and the T-shirt under the cloak.

He noticed her looking at him, and he gave his outfit a glance. "Ah. This…" he said, "I am going to the academy."

"Academy?" She frowned. "Why?"

"To keep an eye on my brother."

"What?" She got up and adjusted her skirt. "Why would you want to keep an eye on him? He is in the academy, nothing can go wrong—"

Then she remembered Kamiya and Hitori throwing spells at each other and damaging the walls and the floor. She fell back on the seat created by manipulating earth.

"That is not my purpose," Akira said, getting off his seat, "I have been plotting something… I know he is running from his demons. I want him to face his demons and get back into the game."

"Game?" She looked at him, she lowered her brows.

Akira nodded. "When Kamiya is back, it will be a shame if Aniki still has not overcome his demons. They would not be able to play together."

She found it, I don't know, cute? Because she was smiling at him like she was smiling at a cute pre-teen guy. But Akira was already a teen.

They heard a rustle in the back of the cave. They both turned their heads to the park entrance and saw Kyoryu step out. He was holding a metal rod in his hand, it was around the size of a wand but it looked heavier than a wand.

He looked at Akira. Akira closed his mouth, then said, "I am going to the academy, see you later."

He was supposed to wait for their reply, but he felt like he should run out of the lair as soon as possible. She watched him teleport when he was a meter away from the lair's mouth.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst, then looked at Kyoryu. As always, he had a blank expression on his face. Such an expression no one could predict his emotions by looking at.

He lowered his head, and a strand of his green hair fell down his forehead. He walked to Eya and gave her the rod he was holding. "Take this with you," he said, "you can contact me with this."

She wanted to make sure she heard right, so she kept staring at him.

Kyoryu let out a deep sigh. "You know… we can't take risks. Contact me the moment things go wrong, I will rush to you. Since, you know, I can't leave this place… I will only come when you call me."

She smiled. Her heart was beating as if she had confessed to someone and that someone had accepted her feelings. She took the wand, it was surprisingly light, and studied it.

"Thanks… thank you so much for your help, Kyo-san." She saw him smiling at her, he was pleased to help her.

"We can't get him out of the trouble he has pulled himself into– knowing about the big trouble, how can—"

Eya had to interrupt him. Her smile faded as she said, "He does not know about Akuto actually…" Her heart skipped a beat when she took the name.

Kyoryu widened his eyes in disbelief. "You have not told him about his parents yet?" His voice was deep and he sounded angry. "You came across the forest to tell me about some Onogee? But you have not told him about a man who can kill both Onogee and Hitori– fuck– he can kill even you guys with a snap of his fingers!"

She took a step back. She was expecting him to get angry but not this much. The rage in his eyes was beyond her expectations. Perhaps it was because he still had not recovered from his time on the Cultivation Planet.

"Don't tell me you have not even told him about the Cultivation he needs to go through."

She kept her mouth shut and her eyes down. That said a lot for her. Kyoryu grabbed his hair and groaned.

"What were you two thinking? I need to meet him right now," he said. "I don't care where he is, I want to meet him and—"

"And?" she muttered, "and just spill everything? Do you want to shock him so much that I could not move for a day? We did not tell him because we wanted to do it one by one. We wanted him to stay away from the dangers and deal with his life first."

"But then?"

"But then things got so out of hand…"