Kai’s Household 7:00 at night.

Kai was on his bed, sleeping. His father and mother were sitting on the bedside.

Juro and Akemi wordlessly watched Kai’s sleeping face.

“Akemi.”

The first one to break the silence was Juro, he had called out to his wife.

A tear dropped from Akemi’s eye.

“I know…”

Akemi wiped the falling teardrop.

“He has to leave now, right...?”

More tears began to swell up in Akemi’s eyes.

“It’s not permanently...”

Juro held his wife’s shoulders to assure her.

Knowing Kai, once he figures out what happens; he’ll try and leave the clan on his own. We need to record the things we want to teach him into the pendant and leave it on his person.”

“Nn…”

Juro took a pendant from his pocket.

“First, I’ll leave him my grandfather’s illusion world.”

The gem on the center of the pendant shone and a cube of some unknown material was sucked inside along with his thoughts.

“I’ll give him my healing magic to protect him from harm…”

Akemi held the pendant and her thoughts were transferred in.

“I’ll add the seal to the pendant so it would act as a medium to suppress his bloodline.”

Juro flipped the pendant over and carved something behind it using magic. It shone before marking itself into the pendant and disappearing completely.

“Let’s add food and water to supply him for months...”

Juro immediately regretted his words and bit his own tongue.

Once Akemi had heard his words, she cried. All the walls that had built up to prevent her from crying had crumbled. Their seven year old child was leaving them for months or possibly even years.

“Akemi...”

Juro showed a pained expression as a tear dropped from the corner of his eye.

“We mustn’t worry him. We both know that he’d rather endanger himself than put us into a predicament.”

“Nn...”

Akemi kept crying even though her husband was trying to console her.

“I’ll give him the directions to Desolate Beast Mountain Range, if the pendant is insufficient to seal his bloodline, the directions will guide him. He’ll hopefully meet her there.”

“Nn...”

Akemi nodded weakly.

“Desolate Beast Mountain Range is far, if the pendant is enough to seal him; he may have no need to go there. We knew that this day would eventually come, even if it’s a few years earlier than expected. The bloodline is too strong for mortal bodies to hold on their own. Our bloodlines are sealed so we could hold onto our own will because our bodies aren’t strong enough. She may hopefully do the same to him.”

Juro looked outside the window then faced the pendant once more. His thoughts transferred in the pendant and various instructions flowed in.

"We better treasure the time we have with him tonight, it may be the last time we see him for awhile."

Juro stroked Kai's hair and looked into Akemi's eyes.

"Nn..."

Akemi held Kai's hands and looked into his face and made her best to look like a mother lecturing her child before the child leaves.

"You must remember to eat properly, okay...?"

"You mustn't trust strangers so easily, okay...?"

"Do what you can to avoid getting hurt, okay...?"

"But above all..."

Akemi's tears dripped down and fell on Kai's face.

"...you must remember that we love you very much, okay...?"

Juro's walls also crumbled after Akemi's final words.

Juro and Akemi held Kai's hand as they wept until late at night.

Kai woke up soon after his parents had fallen asleep. Kai sat straight up and saw the tear stains on his parent's face.

His heart ached as he watched his parent's sleeping face. They must know what he was planning to do.

"Reo."

"Yeah?"

"Let's go."

"Nn."

Reo appeared above Kai's bed and flew towards the window.

Kai raised his parent's hands from his own and stood up.

"I love you both, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Kai silently whispered into his parent's ears.

Reo and Kai were outside heading towards the main gate.

"Kai, stop then turn left. There are patrols straight ahead."

Kai nodded and ran left. The only light capable of lighting the path was the moonlight.

"It's already midnight, all that's left to worry about are the patrols. Residents aren't a threat because they're already asleep. But..."

Kai grinned.

"I already remember every route that the guards patrol in this area."

Kai ran straight forward then suddenly turned right.

"If I remember correctly, there are three patrols over there."

"There are five."

"Five?"

Kai furrowed his brows.

"Did they reinforce the patrols?"

"Kai, three patrols up ahead."

"There's something wrong..."

"Kai, stop. You're surrounded everywhere except where you came from, you'll get caught."

Reo appeared once more in front of Kai and began to lead the way.

"Your current body should be enough to jump this high."

Reo floated up towards a nearby wall.

"Eh?"

Kai looked up and saw a wall at least four times higher than he was.

"Ehhhhh..."

A bead of sweat dropped down Kai's head.

"Are you sure about that...?"

"What are you talking about, mostly everyone who has powers of F-class can jump this high."

"F-class? I'm not an F-class though."

"No, you actually are. The unfortunate event turned out to become a little lucky for you. Your magic power went from nearing F-class, fifth step to F-class, third step instantly."

"Seriously...?"

Kai made a face of disbelief.

"Hey, who are you?!"

The light of a lantern shone on Kai's vicinity.

"Kai, jump now!"

"Ah, right!"

Kai stepped back and took a huge jump.

"Waaaah!"

Kai went straight above the wall and was currently in the air.

"How do I land?!"

"Eh? I forgot."

Reo made a cutesy face and stuck out his tongue.

"Like hell that solves it!"

Kai began to fall down after the momentum had gone.

"Oof!"

Kai landed on the floor with his behind first.

"Ow ow ow..."

Kai stood up and rubbed his behind a couple of times before finally starting to walk.

"Can you not forget important pieces of information...?"

"Oh, jump that next wall and you're free until near the gate."

Reo avoided the topic and immediately began to give Kai the next instructions. Kai was currently in the backyard of one of the residents.

Kai took a deep breath and began to run towards the wall.

"Ha!"

Kai made a jump above the wall but it was lower than last time.

"Maybe if I do this!"

Kai positioned his feet to land first.

"Wait, don't do that!"

Crack

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

Kai was sitting on the floor rocking back and forth whilst holding his feet.

"My bones are snapped!"

"No, they're not... You just injured your bone's joints."

Kai rested for a few minutes before attempting to stand up.

"I think I'm fine now... it does hurt a bit though."

"You better move now, I think someone heard the commotion from earlier."

Kai looked towards the right and left before he started to sprint.

"There's the gate..."

Two guards were guarding the gate whilst yawning. The walls were higher than Kai could jump so going through the gate was the only option.

"Now would be a good opportunity."

"?"

Reo flew towards Kai's face and began to use a spell.

"[Shadow Assimilation]."

Kai slowly turned into a shadow and followed the paths of shadows.

"Did you see that?"

One of the guards asked the other.

"I think so..."

"That shadow moved irregularly... almost as if there's something above it. Creepy..."

"Seriously? I thought it was a cat on top of the gate..."

"Good point."

And just like that, the two guards left the irregular shadow be.

"Why did you just try to dance?"

"I just wanted to know what would happen..."

Reo rolled his eyes as the Kai's shadow form had faded.

"How can you cast spells on me though?"

"It's quite draining since we haven't performed the contract but spirits can help their masters perform spells. If the spirit has a huge amount of mana on par with the master, then that would be equivalent to fighting two times longer."

"Almost like a second storage?"

"I prefer you don't call it that way but you've grasped the basic concept."

"And you told me we haven't done the contract yet?"

"Yep."

"How do we do it?"

Kai walked outside the clan's area with Reo in tow.

Kai looked back once more to the clan and a bittersweet smile crept unto Kai's face.

Kai turned once more to Reo inquiring for an answer.

"Let's go to the forest and find a spot there, creating a contract usually involves a lot of light."

"Is that the reason you haven't formed it with me?"

"No, even if you were an exception and could sense a spirit even though you didn't have any qualities to do so, I was worried that your body may not be able to take my mana. But after I saw your bloodline, it's probably enough to shelter most of it."

"Probably...?"

Reo turned forward and head towards the forest.

"I swear, you'll be the end of me someday."

Reo stuck out his tongue.

==========

Darkwood Forest 4:00 in the morning.

"We've already travelled for nearly four hours... can we do the contract already?"

"I do suppose we could do it here, let's go in that cave."

Reo and Kai moved towards a cave.

"I'll light a fire."

A couple of minutes pass as the fire had been lit. Reo had his eyes closed while floating the entire time.

"Reo?"

"Quiet."

Kai didn't pursue what Reo was trying to say any further and just watched him.

Light began to shine as runic lines appeared around the inner workings of the cave.

"Let's begin."