Just

Kane rushed through the halls trying his best not to think about what had happened.

Exiting the facility, he sat down on a curb out front and waited for Mark.

The solemness of the empty field was soothing, Kane just spent his hours cycling mana.

Kane had previously thought up the idea of using space magic to forcefully improve his mana channels, waving off the idea as being too dangerous since many of these channels run through vital organs.

But just now, in his overwhelming desperation to grow stronger, he almost tried it.

Kane had to hold on to caution and experience, he'd lost limbs trying new things when he wasn't ready, he wasn't about to lose his life as well.

"Kane? You alright?" Mark gently spoke while sitting down next to him.

"Oh... I didn't notice you, that's weird," Kane tried to keep the shakiness out of his voice.

He laughed, "It was weird that you could. Why don't you tell me what happened? You look awful."

"Did the commander not tell you... wait, have you even reported in yet?"

Kane felt Mark ruffle his hair.

"I think my student comes first, besides, I'm Rank-6, there's not much they can do to punish me."

"... The jeep I was driving over in was hit by a missile, the other passengers all died in front of me."

Mark looked down, "I told you Kane, war isn't a joke. There's nothing you could've done."

Kane turned his head and stared at Mark.

"That's what hurts the most, there was plenty I could've done. I heard the missile early, I have the ability to teleport people with me, I could've warned them or gotten them out o-or anything other than just sit there and panic."

Mark pulled him into a hug, "You're new to this, that's expecting too much of you. You desperately wanted to help but ended up not being able to, in my mind that means there was nothing you could've done."

"Now, I haven't heard your life story or anything, but I've learned a lot about you. You're strong Kane, not just physically. I know you can become greater than you are, but you need to accept that these things happen, if you know some things are out of your control then you can focus your attention on what helps."

Kane wearily got up, "I get what you mean but... I'm still gonna need time to take any of that to heart."

"You take all the time you need, it's only growth if you're the one doing it," Mark gave him a pat on the back and walked off to the facility.

Kane's chest felt a little lighter.

--------

Night became day as Kane made his way to a gay horse who neighs "heyyy."

No, really.

"So to answer your question, we're 87.63% sure this horse is of a homosexual nature," the brown-haired scientist pushed up his glasses.

"WHY DO YOU KNOW THIS!!"

Before Kane could have his question answered, Mark pulled him along to a large armored truck.

"Make sure you have all your gear and hop on."

Kane nodded and did a quick scan. Since he couldn't find anything wrong with his equipment he walked up and prepared to board the snake-like truck.

Before he could get on, heard the tapping of a cane as a distinguished-looking man approached him. "Hold it, you're supposed to be riding in the other one."

"O-oh, my apologies sir," Kane bowed.

Mark walked over, "Permission to let him ride with me, sir? He is my student after all, we were sent here together."

The man hesitated for a few moments before entering the other truck, "Do as you wish then."

Kane could hear Mark breathe a sigh of relief.

Time went by, both trucks were now slinking along a ruined highway at surprising speeds.

There were no windows inside the truck, the driver's seat actually faced backward with a screen displaying what's in front of the vehicle, this design was apparently much safer.

Kane could enjoy the view just fine without windows though.

He jokingly wondered if setting an anchor in a moving vehicle would actually work.

As barren highway slowly turned to ruined city, Kane could hear the distant thundering of artillery.

He was nervous.

As if to make his anxiety worse, there was a sudden 'boom' from behind.

Some of the soldiers jumped in surprise, Kane frantically scrambled his scanner out and found the second truck to be completely ravaged by flames.

There was gore fire and wreckage all over the road behind them.

Soldiers were yelling frantically as the vehicle sped up, roof hatches opened as people grabbed equipment, surveying for hostiles in the air and surrounding landscape.

"Sh*t, that was the commander's vehicle!"

"Where did the attack come from??"

"I need a K12-G scanner right now!!"

Kane was dazed, he didn't hear anything leading up to the explosion, his scan didn't catch anything either.

Mark just stared in silence for the rest of the ride.

They soon arrived at a small bunker taking heavy fire from approaching planes and paratroopers, some ships were washing up along the seafront.

"Grab your sh*t Kane, remember what I've taught you and you won't die."

Kane nodded, jumping out of the truck with the rest of them.

The group sprinted out towards a small concrete bunker a few feet away, it'd been torn to shreds but still looked safer than the open air.

"Crap, how did they get here this early?" One of the soldiers shouted.

Another soldier was hit by a stray bullet and collapsed, Kane was starting to panic, he had to send extra mana to his brain.

His breathing slowed down, as did his perception of time. The extra room to think helped him adjust to the situation.

Using his scanner, he immediately detected a group of enemy soldiers trying to flank them from coastal cliffs.

They were shocked to find Kane suddenly teleport into the center of their group.

Weaving left and right, Kane avoided all of their shots, using slowed time to accurately hear who's pointing their guns at him. He set off a small mana bullet directly inside each of their guns, destroying their mechanisms.

Two of them pulled out knives and ran at him, Kane let one harmlessly bounce off his side while grabbed the other in mid-air and snapped it in half.

Kane manipulated the space around their feet to make them fall, then forced the ground to close up over their chests.

If he could fight like this, he wouldn't have to kill them.

It was a little too costly on his mana though, he'd have to try limiting it to only using the ground.

The grief, guilt, and pain he'd felt over the death of those he rode with weren't being allowed to influence him.

That had dulled to a constant bleak nagging on his heart, besides, he very well knew the people he was fighting right now were the good guys here.

As close to good as you could get in a war anyway.

Kane made his way back down to the shore to continue the fight. He hoped to save as many lives as possible.