Leo and Jason wander towards the sound. Leo slows down to a stop. He grabs Jason by the shoulder.

  “Jason, wait. If that sound was the others then wouldn't they be trying to find us? And if they were trying to find us in a building with kai banes then they would be more discreet and make less sounds. It was metal too and it sounded like it was pushing into itself. It might have been a locker getting hit by a kai bane.” Leo tells him.

  Jason thinks for a few seconds then waves him off.

  “They're new to this thing just like us, it probably was an accident and they were just stepping on something too hard.” He replies.

  Jason smiles and continues walking forward. Towards his classmates.

  “Mia isn't new, she said earlier she has been doing this since she was 11. She's also incredibly smart so she would know not to make those noises.” Leo responds quickly.

  Jason doesn't stop walking.

  “Then it was one of the others. Maybe Andrew, he was pretty strong so he might have accidentally stepped on it.”

  I can't convince him otherwise. He's too upbeat and optimistic. He's too focused on the possibility of our classmates being here now and not the danger of a potential kai bane or more. Leo thinks to himself.

  “Maybe so. Let's check.”

  Might as well check, he might be right. There is no use in just staying still and letting him go by himself.

  “Hey guys! Where did you all end up? Did you find the other kai banes?” Jason belts out towards the sound.

  They hear footsteps heading towards them. A few screws move on the ground while the footsteps grow closer. The lights above them flicker. The footsteps seem to multiply.

  “See Leo, multiple footsteps so It must be them.” Jason grins.

  He might have been right then. Leo relaxes a little.

  A grey hand reaches out in the light.

  “Jason! It's not our classmates!” Leo shouts out.

  Jason puts up his pistols from the kai tool and shoots both of them at the kai bane, one shot per gun. A locker door is thrown in front of the bullets right before it hits the kai bane.

  “You will have to be faster than that when you're facing me… and my brother.” The gray kai bane tells them in a rough and low voice.

  A green kai bane walks out in the flickering light.

  “Why so rude brother? You usually say our names first.” The green one says in a playful voice.

  The gray one laughs.

  “Forgive me. I am Zenshin. This is my brother Henka. Though these names won't matter in a few seconds. You will be dead.” It taunts.

  Leo takes the sword and charges towards Henka.

  “I have this one! You get Zenshin!” Leo yells at Jason.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Jason switches the pistols to a shotgun and shoots straight at the kai bane. It blasts out 2 shots but the kai bane stomps its foot and the locker door flies up and blocks them. The kai bane throws the door back at Jason's hand and knocks the kai tool away from him.

  “Uh oh. No more weapons.” Zenshin grins.

  Leo swings his sword at Henka.

  Right before the point of contact, on his arm, it flows purple. blade slices into him then stops. Henka chuckles.

  “1.” It says with glee.

  “They can't be in that building! I can feel the energy inside it! There have to be several creatures In there!”

  A 9 year old kid with bright blue eyes, dark brown, short straight hair, and white skin.

  His green shorts and white dirty shirt flap in the wind.

  “I have to save them!” He tells himself.

  He runs inside the building. He shivers at the flickering lights. This is creepy. I saw them go upstairs. They might be coming down now. He thinks to himself as he runs up the stairs towards the first year students.

  As he's turning up the next set of stairs he runs into a girl.

  “A kid? You shouldn't be here.” Mia tells him.

  “I could say the same to you! There are creatures here that you couldn't understand.” He responds.

  “Wait kid,” Andrew interrupts. “You know about kai banes?”

  “Is that their official name? I always just called them creatures. Wait a second you can sense them? I can sense the energy from you guys.” He asks them.

  Andrew grins.

  “How old are you?” He questions.

  “I'm 9. Why?”

  Andrew smiles harder and looks at Mia.

  “He found out before you.” He chuckles.

  “Where are the other 2 that came in here? I only count 3 of you right now and 5 of you came in.” The kid asks them.

  “They should be downstairs. On the ground floor is where we got split up.” Mia tells him.

  “Let's go.”

  Leo dashes towards Henka with a dagger and swings once, twice, a third time. He only nicks Henka once. The green skin heals back fully. I didn't apply kai there fast enough. Henka thinks to himself. He punches Leo in the gut then knees him away.

  “Humans are so weak! It's so fun to kill them, right Zenshin?” He sneers.

  “They are, but this kai tool is not.” Zenshin replies.

  A shotgun goes off twice, scraping the kai bane along the ribs. It picks up the locker door again and rushes at Jason, blocking the shots as well as gaining ground. He shoves Jason backwards then throws the door at him full speed. In half a second it is a few centimeters away from Jason's neck. It's about to decapitate him when it stops then switches trajectory and goes left and goes through a wall and sticks into the next one.

  “Are you guys okay!?” Felix asks them as he runs down the hall towards his friends.

  A little kid is close behind him pointing his right hand's index to the left, as well as the other first year students. Damn, they got backup. We should retreat while we still can. The grey one thinks to himself as he runs over to Henka.

  “Let's go. They have backup and I can sense they are strong enough to make the difference. We would have one before if we were smart, but not now. Especially that girl. She seems stronger than the others.”

  Henka nods.

  “It would've been so fun to kill them though. Aw mannn.” Henka responds.

  They both run and jump out the window nearby. Leo and Jason go to check out the window immediately. They look around but can’t see them in the slightest

  “They got away, and Mr. Smite probably didn't see them.” Leo groans.

  The light flickers around them again.

  “Who's the kid?” Jason asks.

  “My name is Tim!” The little kid exclaims.

  “I came here To protect you guys from the creatures…er kai banes! But apparently you guys were able to do it yourselves.”

  Leo turns around, walking towards the kid and smiles at the kid. Jason grins as well.

  “Tim is a nice name. You'll probably do well in life. You're a nice kid.”

  Leo pats his head.

  “Let's head back to our teacher okay? He'll help out after that fight.”

  Kai has an aura that is a good indicator of good and bad people. People that know how to sense kai can usually tell if someone is good or not because kai flows from the soul and is a pretty good indicator of danger or friendliness. This isn't always true because kai forms evil such as kai banes and calamities, so anyone with so much kai that it overflows out of them can be perceived as terrifying even if they aren't inherently bad.