Akashi narrowed his eyes before sitting down, leaning his back against the small altar in the middle of the room.
"...That blood I have drunk before was yours, wasn't it?" Akashi said with an emotionless tone after a few seconds of silence.
"Oho? You are indeed different to be able to come to such a conclusion within a few seconds. Most humans would just panic in such situations as you are in." The voice sounded impressed by Akashi's calmness.
"To be honest, previously I thought that you are very suitable to accept my legacy but now that I see you, you are too calm to realize it's true potential. Someone more hot-blooded would be much better in realizing its potential." The voice sounded a bit sad.
"You know, talking with the air is anything but sane." Akashi said jokingly and after a few seconds, walls, ceiling, and even the ground changed to mirrors,.
"Hm?" However instead of mirrors reflecting his real appearance, what appeared in front of him was him covered in red scales and full samurai mask with big fangs and horns on his face.
"No, that's not my mask but my real face if you really want to ask" The voice replied to what Akashi was thinking about.
"I see, you are very handsome, excuse me, you were very handsome. The girls probably followed everywhere you went, right?" Akashi smirked and asked.
"Stupid jokes, are you intending to joke even while fighting Esdeath? I must admit that she is the strongest woman I have ever met and I have lived for a long time enough to meet a lot of scary and strong women. She knows how to realize the true potential of her powers, not to mention, her powers are combined with a bit of our power which makes it more immune to your weak flames. Not to mention, in frontal confrontation of your flames against her solid ice, she will win due to its solid nature. You can make your flames solid but you have to control it and it drains you much faster."
'So now it's "our" power huh?' Akashi thought with a smile.
"Look, stop beating around the bush. Tell me if you are trying to help me or trying to undermine my confidence and take over my body." Akashi replied with a bored expression.
"Hmph! I am trying to help you realize your weaknesses when it comes to Esdeath. You should already be aware that you won't win in a battle of powers, you have the opportunity only in a physical confrontation. I can teach you how to discard using your power of flames and bring your physical capabilities to yet another level." The voice said angrily.
"Wait...you are the one who commanded flames first and you want me to abandon it and turn it into physical strength? Haha, are you sure you are real and not just a fraud?" Akashi actually genuinely laughed at his words.
"My flames used to be much stronger than yours so that's why I am doing this. You are simply below me in that regard so I have to use another way for you.""
"I have no need of your help because you already helped me enough by showing me your true form." Akashi said and got up, slowly approaching the wall of mirrors in front of him.
"?! Wait!" The voice sounded panicked and suddenly someone put their "hand" on Akashi's shoulder to stop him.
"So you can materialize yourself without me, huh?" Akashi muttered while turning to the side to look at the figure similar to him with red skin covered in red scales and with a full samurai mask-like face.
"You might lose if you leave without gaining anything from me."
Akashi opened his mouth to say something but he stopped before his mouth curled up in a nasty smile which alarmed even the figure in front of him.
*Splash* *Thud* Suddenly a cut-off arm has fallen on the ground.
"Don't touch me without my permission." Akashi said while looking at him with an apathetic look in his eyes before he turned around to walk up to the wall full of mirrors.
"?! You-! Where did that sword appear from?!" The figure asked angrily while holding what was remaining from its cut-off arm.
"Have you forgotten? This is my subconsciousness, you are just a part of me and not me. I am the king here, not you." Akashi replied before slashing with his red sword the wall of mirrors in front of him.
Suddenly, instead of the previous wall, there was nothing, just pitch black.
Akashi didn't hesitate at all and just walked in.
"You will lose!" Akashi was still able to catch the voice shouting at him before he disappeared from the room.
---Reality---
*huff* Akashi opened his eyes and his breath was slightly ragged.
He looked down at the ground and released a slightly helpless smile. He knew what that "creature" meant by him "losing". The creature itself knew about Akashi's capabilities and also about Esdeath's personality.
'Just defeating her alone won't be enough...I need to entertain her but also show her that she should never go against me when I turn serious...and in this state, as am I right now...I am not sure if I can completely dominate her in this upcoming battle.' Akashi thought and got near the edge of the black stone, still on his knees, he leaned forward and extended his hands towards the magma, stopping just a few inches above it.
'I can still feel its heat, it's not as hot as before but I will probably still feel very uncomfortable if I won't protect my body with my energy...however, that's the point. If I will be protecting myself from it, it's the same as rejecting it.' Akashi thought.
"Here goes nothing..." *Splash* Akashi muttered and closed his eyes before he let the gravity do its job and let him fall inside the magma.
His face immediately winced in pain but he remained still.
'It feels like my skin is turning red from all the heat...It's like a high temperature can't kill me but I can still suffer. The deeper I sink, the hotter magma gets, this pool is actually quite deep.' Akashi thought without moving an inch while he was slowly sinking deeper where the temperature was even higher and more unbearable.
After a few minutes of slowly sinking deeper, Akashi finally wanted to take a break so he slowly got up to the surface.
Akashi looked down at his body and saw that his skin was slightly in orange color but ever since he came back to the surface, the orange color was slowly fading away.
'Fuck, I should have taken off my pants before jumping in...' Akashi cursed inwardly when he noticed that he was completely naked. He actually tried to protect his pants with his energy but it was something completely different from protecting it from his flames.
'Wait...clothes?!' Akashi's eyes shined for a split second before he jumped back to the pool of magma.
He continued training this way for 2 more days and whenever he came out of the cave to reassure girls, he always stayed a big distance away from them and always warned them not to approach him. The first time Mera saw him walking out without his pants and with only flames acting as a curtain around his private parts, she looked away with a faint blush but she didn't act in an awkward way. Taeko on the other hand acted completely normal if not a little confused at most.
The next day, 5 more days before meeting with Esdeath...
Akashi returned to the inside of the volcano and immediately jumped down to the magma.
'Just a few days and I can already call this surface of this magma cold...' Akashi thought while he was helping himself to sink faster because the temperature above was too cold for him.
He has yet to hit the bottom of this volcano and he even spent more than 30 minutes of slowly sinking down, today it was his goal to hit the bottom.
In less than 20 minutes get broke through his record and began feeling uncomfortable once gain but he completely ignored it. After another 20 minutes, he had to grit his teeth in pain as his entire body started burning in pain while he couldn't even collect his thoughts due to an immense headache.
When Akashi was thinking about going back to try again after a little break, he recalled the creature's words.
'...Hot-blooded, huh? FUCK YOU!' Akashi gritted his teeth even more as he sped up but instead of going up, he went straight down.
As he kept sinking deeper, he could feel his arms slowly changing in very painful manner, however, Akashi's body and mind grew almost completely numb of the feeling named pain. And before he knew that, his arms suddenly touched something more solid than just magma however he could feel his hands slowly sinking into it but he was absolutely sure that he wouldn't be able to "swim" in that mass so he was finally able to return. Unfortunately, on the way down, he was completely numb to the pain but suddenly when he wanted to go up, he started feeling it again but it was at least 20 times worse than when he stopped feeling it.
He caught his head as he felt something "connecting" with his upper face. He actually already completely stopped feeling pain in his arms but until now he just thought that it was due to them growing numb to it once again but he realized that he could move them without any restraint which wouldn't be possible if that was the case. Also felt something sticking out of his elbow.
He already ignored any heat which was enough to completely scorch the human's body within the milliseconds.
After around 10 minutes, the pain on his face subdued as he felt that something finalized connecting to his face and then he felt immense pain on his chest as if something began growing there however the real pin has yet to come...
When Akashi felt as if something was drilling its way to his heart he actually no longer managed to keep his eyes closed as he opened them wide before narrowing them in pain. If he wasn't in such extreme pain he would have thought why he can have his eyes open without protecting it from the magma with his energy.
'This! There is really a hole in my chest!' Akashi thought when the pain eased up a bit and when he actually put his hand on his chest, he felt a small hole in it however he didn't dare to put his hand inside.
After that, the lower part of his legs and feet came to the turn but this pain compared what he felt a few minutes ago was completely nothing.
---The camp outside---
"Do you think Akashi is alright? He is there for already 3 days straight without coming back..." Taeko asked with a concerned expression while fidgeting around, it has actually been 3 days since Akashi went to the volcano.
"As of now, he should be alright since his Danger Beasts are behaving as usual." Mera replied rationally while pointing at Kiyomi staring at the entrance to the volcano.
"But wasn't Kiyomi acting weird yesterday?" Taeko asked with a worried expression.
"Her microexpression actually didn't make any sense which made me worried for a bit but it gradually became better and now she just keeps staring at the entrance. I think that something major happened to Akashi but his life shouldn't be in danger judging how Kiyomi recovered so quickly." Mera answered with a calm tone and expression.
"That's easy for you to stay calm, he isn't your boyfriend..." Taeko muttered with a resentful tone but she quickly regretted it.
Mera actually frowned before slightly sad expression appeared on her face.
"Just because I am keeping calm facade doesn't mean I am not worried..." She muttered while looking at the ground, hiding her expression behind her hair.
"?! I- Mera-sama, I am sorry, I didn't mean-" Taeko quickly wanted to apologize when she realized she overstepped her boundaries and when she decided to vent her frustration on someone close to her without any reason.
*RUMBLE* A ground started to shake but it was gradually increasing on its strength.
"?!" Both Mera and Taeko got to their feet as their eyes widened.
"Don't tell me it's going to erupt right now!" Mera muttered with an irritated expression while biting her lower lip.