Whether Kala and others’ prayers would be heed or not, that was a story for another day. For now, all they could do was sulk in regret for their actions and look on as Kiba’s figure turned distant. None of them wanted to be even close to him, much less try to capture him.
As Kiba expected, the chase didn’t end as a new set of crowd started following him. There were just too many people in The Fair. After all, it was almost like a city, a totally safe haven in the forest. The treasures he supposedly owned was a great enticement.
Kiba was unfazed and continued to rush through streets. He increased his speed a bit and left the crowd in a dust storm.
"Fuck!"
"He is a treasure mine!"
"Don’t let him escape!"
The crowd increased their speeds but they were greatly lacking.
Kiba took a turn on a street ahead, and he has just taken a step, when thunderous roars filled the air.
"Hmm?"
Kiba found streams of light beams coming at him. As they approached closely, it was clear the beams were actually knives, wrapped by lightning vipers.
Even if a Level III mutant was struck by this lightning vipers, their body would be instantly paralyzed and their hearts pierced by the knives. The speed and power left no chances for avoiding multiple strikes.
"You are attacking the wrong guy with lightning," Kiba couldn’t help but smile.
He lifted a hand and waved it in a circular motion.
With a sharp screeching sound, the knives fell down, but the lightning vipers leaped in air. They were excited, their bodies no longer containing killing power.
They released enormous energy of lightning and wrapped around his hand. There was no destruction or scorched body as the attacker expected. On the contrary, the snakes seemed to be happy as they licked his hands like a pet. There was a pure, unadulterated joy.
"What?!" A shocked gasp came from some distance ahead.
It was a woman named Pooja. She has middle-length hair, brown skin tone, and a slender frame.
She looked with wide eyes as the lightning vipers disintegrated into lightning particles and glued on his hand.
"How is this possible?! Is he also a lightning-attribute mutant?! But they said he was telekinetic!!"
Pooja has got information from one of the people in the mob. She was thinking when her pupils dilated. She looked with mouth agape at the scene in front of her.
Like a sponge absorbing water, Kiba’s hand devoured the lightning particles. There was no resistance as if his body was made of lightning.
Pooja gulped down a mouthful of saliva in shock. She hasn’t even comprehended this development when she saw a fist closing into her.
Frightened but she quickly said, "A handsome man like you must be chivalrous, right?"
Kiba stopped his fist after coming close to her stomach. He was a taken aback by her words and retraced his fist back.
One of the most popular codes of chivalry stated - A real man doesn’t hit a woman or children.
Pooja was a fast thinker and she knew when to take advantage of her gender.
She smiled as she saw him lowering his fist. She knew many mutants who had their own codes, especially among males.
They considered women as a frail species and someone to protect. Such men wouldn’t attack women even if the latter tries to kill them.
They were a firm believer of code and nothing would change that.
Pooja couldn’t have been happier to meet a man of such code as an opponent.
’And they say chivalry is dead."
She was smiling when her smile suddenly turned stiff as Kiba said, "I’m not chivalrous."
Pooja tensed up and her body was instantly drenched in cold sweat. She didn’t want to die, and she was thinking of what to do when his next words stunned her.
"But I’m a feminist."
Pooja’s eyes instantly brightened up. She sighed in relief and happily wiped sweat from face. She felt she couldn’t have asked for a better opponent.
Feminists saw every woman as a victim!
It was even better than having a chivalrous man!
"I’m so happy to meet a feminist in this dangerous land," Pooja said with a sweet smile.
Kiba responded with a smile as well, and said, "I hope you don’t misunderstand but please know something."
"Know what?" Pooja asked, puzzled.
"I’m a true feminist," Kiba answered with the same smile as before. "Not some pseudo-feminist you might know."
"Huh?" Pooja was bewildered.
Kiba observed her for a moment before explaining, "That means I’m a believer in equality."
Pooja didn’t understand his words but his next action cleared all her doubts.
A fist rammed into her stomach like a truck. Her secret armor shattered into pieces and her body instantly turned pale.
"It means I shouldn’t discriminate just because you are a woman," Kiba said as he lowered his fist.
Pooja was in no state to reply. As soon as the punch made a contact, she was sent flying through air, coughing up an arrow of blood.
After flying for two hundred meters, she crashed into a wall. The rampaging force in her belly surged into the wall behind, and the wall cracked into fragments.
"AHHHHH!"
Pooja let out a heart-wrenching scream. She found her internal organs shattered, on brink of collapse.
Her eyes erupted with tears and her face turned sickly yellow.
Kiba slowly stepped forward and arrived before her. The dust on the ground swept away as he crouched down.
"It makes me happy to know you are happy to meet a feminist in this dangerous land," Kiba said with a sincere smile.
His smile was filled with kindness but for her, it was like a smile of the devil. She found it hard to believe he would attack her so violently, without a hint of mercy, after acting the way he did previously.
Kiba took her chin in his hand and said, "A gentleman is someone who does not what he wants to do, but what he should do. I have forgotten something so obvious but thankfully you reminded me."