Wow, I can't believe I actually managed to push out a chapter even with my exhaustion. Swim practice this week was super hard. I practically wanted to sleep forever after yesterday haha. Anyway, I think I'm getting in to a bit of a schedule here. One chapter Monday or Tuesday and then one on Friday. I'm not saying I am creating schedule, but this is just how I'm writing it right now.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Don't forget to leave a comment for me, thanks! (Any questions you have, refer to my thread in "Promote Your Webnovel".)

Kyte manifested an energy sword before he attacked the wall of branches. To his amazement, an invisible barrier nullified his attack. He tried several more attacks, even a new Sonic Blade, but they were all futile. The energy just seemed to disappear.

Frowning, Kyte landed back on the ground.

“What happened?” An A ranker asked.

“The branches nullified my attacks. I can’t break through it.” Kyte replied.

“What? How is that possible?” A different Gifted spoke up with a hint of fear in their voice.

“I don’t know. It seems like there’s a barrier layered over the branches that blocks anything from touching them. Or maybe it blocks anything that has the intent to harm...Anyway, there’s no way to break through it at the moment. We just need to focus on getting out of here.”

Kyte began to walk forward through the trees. The group followed close behind him with the fire ring simultaneously moving with them. The intensity of the cold was increasing the farther they traveled and a faint layer of mist began to slowly manifest on the forest floor.

As Kyte walked through the forest, he suddenly felt a bit lost. This feeling was slowly growing stronger over the past couple of days and now Kyte was beginning to grow worried. He felt like he was forgetting something important, something that he and the group used before.

What he didn’t notice was that, along with the feeling of being lost, the train track had silently disappeared.

__________________________________________

-Two weeks later-

Kyte sat down on the inner edge of the campsite. The grand formation encompassed about thirty meters in every direction, making sure that nothing attacked them while they were sleeping. The frequency of attacks seemed to increase every day, and Kyte was growing tired of it. Plus, the creatures were growing in power as well. The weakest was at least equivalent to a Bronze A ranker.

Not only that but the food and water supply had nothing left. Even when Kyte himself didn’t take any of it, the supply still ran out. These three factors, including the fact that they’re still stuck in the forest, made worry endlessly grow within Kyte. He would have to make the announcement about the food and water supply being gone in the morning. He didn’t think he would be able to successfully deter the group’s fear of starvation and dehydration but he’ll think of something.

Hmm, I wonder if the water created from black light is drinkable? I’ve never tried it before. Haaa....I still have this feeling of forgetting something.

The group had long forgotten about the train track. By now, the layer of mist had expanded up to their knees. Not only that but the atmosphere throughout the forest shifted from clear and light-filled to a tenebrous ambience. However, it seemed as if no one noticed this transformation.

Only Kyte took notice of the eerie environment, as well as the increased frenziness of the creatures attacking them. Kyte observed the creatures and he concluded that they may have completely lost their minds. Their eyes were beet red while any of their blood proved to be acidic or corrosive in nature. The intensity of blood was dependent on whichever creature it originated from, but at this stage any of that blood is dangerous.

Thinking back, Kyte tried to remember where he saw such behavior. His muddled memories played back in his mind but they were just too disordered. Faint images of his past fluttered through his recollection but he couldn’t make any sense of it. Pieces of scenes swam past his mind’s eyes and look as if they were merging together to create a blend of meaninglessness.

Images of him standing with two older people taking their last picture together. A car ripped to shreds as the occupants went with it. A man throwing Kyte to the ground and continually smashing his fists against Kyte’s face. A red-haired beauty, naked, lying next to him. The warmth from their bodies interlock and form a strange cycle of reciprocation. That warmth being ripped away as the ground around Kyte began to rip apart, destroying the image of inconsequential happiness as a new image took form.

Lined up in-front of Kyte was a group of people whose faces were darkened by their hair. Red hair, white hair, black hair, brown hair, blonde hair. Even two older people that looked similar to Kyte were standing with the others. Suddenly, Kyte somehow understood that all of their expressions changed into ones of disdain and disappointment. They turned around and began to walk away from him. He suddenly felt a considerable amount of pain that seemed to pierce straight through his heart. Two streams of tears glided down his cheeks as he could do nothing but watch them disappear.

After a full five seconds, a black figure appeared in-front of the line of people. A cloudy mist drifted off its frame. The black mist spread out to encompass the entire realm of Kyte’s dream as faint whispering began to proliferate throughout his mind. The distinct black figure began to walk toward Kyte.

“Y̸̱̟ͩ͗̾̉̓́͢O͎͚̤ͭ͠U̧̟͕̙̠̝͔̙̗̿ͯ̕…”

It disappeared before manifesting itself directly in-front of Kyte.

“...B̶̻̩̥͈̖̘̘̻ͭ͒̅E̸͚͎̿̉̋̒ͩͩ̐͘T͙̞̃̑̽ͫ̋̂͘R̖̈̇̓ͣ̏̅̍͋͝͠A͎̤̻͎͙̬̬ͥͭȲ͇̼̎ͤͣ̄͟È̷̱͇̙̼̀͘D̡̮͍͋ͥ̉̄͂ͩ́́ ̛̤̲̫͕̩̮͋̚M̨̳̃ͥͨ̆̆E̩̗͎̬͉ͩ͊̌͂͊̏̌͂͢!!”

Kyte instantly awoke, gasping for air as sweat glided down his face over his eyes. It was still night and the others were calmly sleeping it away. Kyte stood up and flew into the air and began to cycle wind throughout his clothing to air it out, as well as to cool himself down. He breathed out a long sigh as he looked up at the wall of branches above him.

Utter confusion filled him as memories flooded into his mind. Clarity slowly began to return to him as he sorted the memories. After a full minute Kyte recovered everything he had lost. He remembered everything, even the days when his memory was slowly being sealed away. He spread out his Spirit energy and discovered that the train track was indeed gone. He had slowly led the group away from the track over the last two weeks without anyone noticing. This was due to the fact that everyone's memories were carefully sealed over time.

“Shit…”

Kyte spread his Spirit Energy in the direction of the train tracks. At least, the direction he thinks it’s located. Unfortunately, his Spirit energy did not discover the tracks. Kyte silently floated to the ground and tried to calm himself down. The worry he felt before he regained his memories grew even stronger. Kyte knew that he and the group was still lost, all because of him.

Fuck...damn it! If only I wasn’t so weak. I really let my memories get sealed away?! I’m such an idiot! I wonder how much time has actually passed? I need to get to the Core. I’m sure Thomas would increase the deadline. Not everyone can make it in two weeks, especially with the Guardian ambushes. What a stupid idea, putting on a deadline! Who the Hell does that?!

Kyte laid back on the ground and closed his eyes. At least he didn’t squander his formation research when his memories were sealed. Although he was a bit slower because of it, he did manage to create two new grand formations. The first one being comprised of Frozen Blood and Moonlight’s Eclipse, which excluded the alert formation, and the second one was created from Execution Blitz and Surging Energy. Both of those formations absorb energy in a certain way and release it as an attack, which is great for a hidden attack. Since Kyte can create multiple grand formations, though not at the same time, he would be able to set up an enormously powerful trap.

He decided to name the two formations. The first one named Frozen Eclipse while the other is Energy Blitz. Frozen Eclipse is a fully defensive formation. A shield appears while emitting a piercingly cold wind outward while the shield is active. Energy Blitz absorbs energy from the surroundings and from Kyte himself, which decreases the amount of time needed for it to charge. It creates a surge of energy that explodes toward the direction Kyte wants. He also used a defensive base structure for both of the formations to block any attacks aiming for the formations themselves.

These two formations made Kyte quite happy. They seemed to perfectly complement each other, and, because they’re grand formations, their power is far higher than they were individually. Kyte was trying to create a configuration where the formations could absorb energy from any source, not just the atmosphere and Kyte himself. He can use the two formations to increase the Bloodcursed armor’s power as well as any weapon he obtains.

Kyte also began to study the formation on the Bloodcursed armor that allowed it to absorb blood. Since Kyte doesn’t know how to create brand new formations from scratch, he needs examples to help guide him. He was trying to create a formation that would allow him to absorb blood from anything at his will. He especially wanted this when fighting an opponent. When he drew blood, he would absorb it. This was actually a great idea that could potentially save him.

After thinking this far, Kyte wanted to sleep. After he regained his memories, he wanted to get a good night’s rest so that he could be fully functional the next day. Thankfully the mist was non-existent within the grand formation, otherwise that Gifted would have to alleviate the beds.

And so, Kyte fell asleep.

_____________________

“ROHHHHHH!”

Kyte woke up to the sound of non-human, heart wrenching screams. His eyes snapped open as he instantly rose to his feet to survey the surroundings.

Surrounding the group was a crowd of winged creatures that gripped onto the trees. They were crazily screaming at the group and Kyte noticed a few corpses lying within the grand formation. A few of the creatures were just out the diameter of the grand formation as they barbarically pounded the ground. They looked like over-sized goblins with large, feathery wings that savagely protruded out from their backs. Whenever they screamed they would open their jaws incredibly wide, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth. Everything about their appearance was simply vicious.

The other Gifted were wide awake as the weaker ones began to scream out of fear. Kyte mentally sighed before he walked into the outer reaches of the grand formation. All the creatures suddenly huddled around in that one area just outside the formation. Kyte knelt down next to a corpse and quickly examined it to find any weak points. He primarily searched with Spirit energy to discover any softer areas in the body, like the throat. Apparently these creatures’ wings were incredibly fragile so they only use them for flight. However, when Kyte slashed a wound onto the corpse it quickly healed.

These creatures probably evolved fast regenerative abilities rather than strong defense. Doesn’t really change much, though.

Kyte used the strong wind currents in the air to suddenly disappear from sight. He reappeared behind the crowd of creatures, creating a small ball of black light in his hand. The creatures, once Kyte disappeared, frantically searched around for him. When he reappeared they all instantly rushed toward him with their sharp claws outstretched.

Kyte stood there in the air, waiting for their claws to strike into his body. The weaker Gifted, after seeing Kyte stand there, let out small screams of despair as the group of creatures surrounded Kyte.

Kyte just stood there as the first claw struck. The nails easily slashed straight through his flesh, making blood spray out onto his clothes and the creature itself. That one attack almost severed his arm from his shoulder. Seeing this, Kyte was instantly shocked at the sharpness of the creature’s claws. He immediately converted the black light into a giant fireball that spread out to cover the entire cluster of creatures. The fire instantly vaporized everything within it, including a few portions of a tree that got caught.

Kyte stopped the fireball from expanding any further than several meters, which was just enough to destroy the creatures present. He then retracted the fire into another small ball of black light which evaporated into nothingness. Piles of ash fell to the forest floor as Kyte himself slowly floated downward. The Gifted that were watching let out breaths of relief as some fell to their knees.

Kyte walked back into the camp and noticed that a few of the Gifted were wearing confused expressions as they looked around in a puzzled manner. Kyte carefully watched those few Gifted, which were the strongest Gifted of the group, as they slowly began to realize their memory-less minds.