Depthless Hunger

Kai had been in confrontations with authorities multiple times in his life, but this one might be unique. So many times his actions had been limited, or the authorities had enough strength to threaten him. Now, back on Deadwaste, they couldn't actually stop him and he didn't need to go through them.

There were eight Windborn guards behind him, with Power ranging from 60 to 80. Honestly, he had been hoping for better than that. He'd expected to have a Frontier elite or someone related to them notice, take him aside, and reprimand him for entering a competition he was clearly too strong for. This group all wore similar livery, and based on the expression of their leader, they had pettier goals.

"If you didn't want me to participate," Kai said, "you shouldn't have let me enter. I told them I met the age limit but was stronger than average."

"They let you in because they assumed you were a foreigner in over his head!" One of the Windborn took a step out of the crowd, revealing armor and robes far more expensive than all the others. "The Gales clan can't let you run roughshod in our territory."

"This isn't an official action, is it?" Kai glanced over the group carefully and noticed that many of them were looking nervous now that they got a good look at him.

"That doesn't matter! We'll send you back to Goralia with your head bash-" The leader cut off as Kai struck him in the stomach. Not hard enough to seriously injure a man with his Physique, just enough to send him tumbling some distance away before falling unconscious.

"Oh fuck," one of the others said. "I told you, he's not normal. We shouldn't have done this..."

Kai raised both hands harmlessly. "Relax. To me you look like men who are just doing their jobs. Unless you want to fight me?"

Many in the group shook their heads rapidly or backed away. Even those without good spiritual sight or common sense were beginning to understand that they were outmatched.

"The contest was legal," one of the guards said nervously, "but the Gales clan is furious they lost face. Uh, that's us. We're not high-ranking Gales, but we work for them. We were all going to come and give you a thrashing to convince you to leave, but... uh..."

"Just you?" Kai sighed. "I'm trying to make contact with larger forces."

"You will," one of the others said. "Lady Gales was going to call in the Rosemount Brigade before she sent us instead. They, uh, they deal with the really big problems. Usually from Rosemount, but probably you too. Uh... assuming you... fight us..."

"Hey, I don't want to you to be punished," Kai said. "I can deal some harmless blows so you can go back having done your jobs."

"Not the armor!" One of the guards raised his hands defensively as if he expected Kai to attack him at exactly that moment. "We, uh, we pay for that ourselves..."

"No problem." Kai patted the man on the shoulder before realizing that might come off as threatening. "What can you tell me about this Rosemount Brigade?"

That question didn't get an immediate answer until one of the older guards reluctantly spoke. "They're our betters, honestly. And better than the Gales, too. The really strong Windborn join them, and there are others from the Frontier. All kinds of nations. They fight monsters, deal with serious problems, generally train to face the incursions."

Then they sounded like exactly who needed to find him. Presumably they would be more reasonable, and with their help he could both find his allies quickly and make his way to the Frontier. Kai smiled and saw the guards flinch before he remembered the power dynamic here. He wouldn't have been happy to see a cheerful barbarian either.

"I don't want to cause trouble," he told them. "You can say that you beat me up and drove me off if you want. But I want to talk to this Rosemount Brigade."

"You... you'd better," one of the guards said. "We'd be punished if we didn't at least try."

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"Well, I'll be cautious. But make sure they send the problem crew."

Kai swept through the guards in a single thunderclap. He struck several of them with blows that wouldn't cause serious injuries, marveling at how much easier it was now: holding back against opponents of his own level was a risk, but when he moved so much faster, it was easy to strike clinically. Soon the group was a little roughed up without being much worse for the wear.

Then he headed south, along one of the main roads. He hadn't wanted things to escalate this quickly, but if it got him to the Frontier elites sooner, it was worth it. As he walked, Kai entertained a dark fantasy where his decision to try the Hundred Zephyr Rings contest led to an endless blood vendetta that ruined his future plans.

Not likely. Even if he'd started something bigger than he'd hoped, he'd already faced one petty faction with Fhazi and the Lantrian clan. If he couldn't use his experience to get out of this one, then he hadn't advanced in the ways that mattered.

The next day, Kai left the main road and moved into undeveloped territory, just in case the Rosemount Brigade proved unreasonable. While the area wasn't true wilderness, instead filled with bright grass and trees that blew in their own mana wind, it didn't have any construction or agriculture. If he got attacked, he didn't want to ruin some poor worker's life.

Before the day was over, Kai felt strong presences approaching. Not strong by the overwhelming standards he'd faced recently, but substantially higher than average for Deadwaste. It seemed like all of them had at least 200 Power and flowed on Windborn abilities... well, except for one, who was lagging further behind as they closed in on him.

"Hey there!" Kai turned around and waved to the group. "You're not on the Gales clan payroll too, are you?"

"They said there was someone from Rosemount," a Windborn woman growled. "You feel like you have chakra... what are you doing here, knocking over children's competitions?"

"I didn't realize how much stronger I'd be," Kai told them. "But now that you're here, we should talk."

As the group stared at him, Kai analyzed them more carefully. Not only were they reasonably strong, they looked experienced, with Soul Levels of 4 or higher. He estimated that they would absolutely annihilate a similar group of crystalliers - these were warriors training to fight incursions and survive the Frontier.

Which was why it was so unfortunate that one of them was working himself up. It was a younger man, only a year or so older than Kai, who was slightly weaker than the group. He had been looking at Kai carefully, and he must not have liked what he saw, because he suddenly called out.

"He's lying! We have to take him down or he'll tear us apart!"

"Hey now," Kai started to say, but the man was already bursting forward with wind mana around his fists.

Kai deflected the first punch and grabbed the front of the man's armor. All he planned to do was toss the guy into the air, where presumably he could use his Windborn skills to avoid a fall and hopefully cool down. But as soon as he touched his opponent, one of the others acted with true speed.

A bolt of lightning exploded across the distance between them and Kai only barely ducked aside. Even with his huge advantage in Power, before he'd developed Thunderbird's Wings, that attack would have struck him.

The one who had released it was a thin man with sharp features, a little older than him, with especially thick green hair flowing in its own wind. Even though Kai was supposed to be deescalating, he couldn't help but take a look at the man's soul.

Name: ???

Total Power: 249

Windborn: Twiceswept (144)

Physique Level: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 5 (25)

>

Nearly 250 Power, most of it concentrated into his Windborn abilities. He had also attained the second stage - Twiceswept - and his technique seemed highly polished. Part of Kai wanted to hold back and fight him, for the sake of an interesting challenge, while another part realized how stupid that would be.

His intentions must have leaked through to his eyes, because the other man struck again. A bolt of lightning seemed to flow along with his hand this time as he lunged forward, striking Kai's chest with a knife hand. Lightning coursed into him and would have disabled or temporarily paralyzed most opponents, but Behemoth's Heart beat through it.

So Kai headbutted him, hard enough to knock him back into the ground. All of the others were drawing weapons or preparing now and Kai realized that he was just making things worse. He'd gotten too used to opponents he wanted to kill and was blundering through this. Maybe it would be best to just surrender?

Except in that moment the final member of the group caught up to the others. Kai stopped and stared, more effectively stunned than by the bolt of lightning.

It was Inafay. A few years older and wearing clothes in Wind Union colors, but definitely her. She gasped a few breaths as if she had been sprinting, but once she straightened she looked him dead in the eye.

"Kai?"

"Uh, this isn't what it looks like..." he said awkwardly.

"It looks like you wanted to get our attention and kept getting into fights."

"Well, then it is what it looks like. Do we have to fight until one of us is unconscious this time?"

Inafay grinned ruefully. "You're never gong to let me live that down, are you?" She turned back to the others and waved them off. "Stand down, everybody. I know this guy. This has all been a misunderstanding."

Then she crossed the distance between them in a wind-powered leap and hugged him, even as the team stared at them.

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