Koji opened his eyes and noticed he was on the floor of a dark room with no furniture. The only way in and out was through the one door in the room.
Koji looked behind him and saw a man who resembled Aziel sitting in a chair. The man had his black hair in a bun and wore a black hakama.
The man looked down at Koji as he said, "you remind me of myself."
Koji was about to attack using his sword, which lay on the floor beside him. But, as he attempted to reach for it, he realized his body was still too injured to fight.
Koji thought for a second before concluding that attacking wouldn't be possible with the state of his body. Koji sat down as he asked, "what do you mean?"
"We both have brothers that deem us as inferior," the man explained, "And, my brother, who treats me as an inferior, happens to think of you the same way."
As the man said this, Koji realized what he meant, "no way," Koji said, "is your brother Aziel?"
The man nodded his head, indicating that Koji's inference was correct.
"So, why did you save me?" Koji asked.
"I see potential in you," the man answered, "what is your goal in life?" he asked Koji.
Koji sat and thought about the question for a while, "my goal is to surpass all people that consider me inferior," Koji responded.
The man let out a laugh, "I had a similar goal when I was younger," he said, "when I was younger, I always strived to surpass Aziel."
"Did your goal change?" Koji asked.
"You could say that," the man answered, "after the death of our parents, I changed. My new goal is to get revenge but, Aziel, my brother, stands in the way of me avenging our parents."
"What does that have to do with me?" Koji asked.
"As I said before, I see potential in you," the man replied, "if I help you train your body physically, you will be able to withstand moving at incredibly high speeds and, that will allow you to use the full power of your prana."
"What's the twist," Koji said skeptically, "I doubt you'd do that without getting something in return."
The man chuckled as he said, "you aren't as dumb as I thought. The twist is that you will stay by my side. With your help, when I gain my full power back, we can defeat Aziel and anyone else who stands in our way."
He continued explaining, "once Aziel is out of the way, nothing can stop me from using Raijah to avenge my parents."
Koji nodded his head as he said, "you've got yourself a deal. But, what do you mean when you gain your full power back? Why don't you have it?"
The man stood up and removed his top clothing, revealing one giant hole in his torso. The hole began just below his neck and ended just above his hips.
A disgusted Koji stepped back and said, "what the hell is that?"
"It's an injury I received from the last battle that I fought on Aziel's side. I've fought Aziel recently and, not even he could damage me this much," the man answered, "with this injury, I cannot fully manipulate my signature prana, and I cannot tap into my ririsu prana."
"How is an injury that severe going to heal?" Koji questioned the man.
"All elites are born with powerful cells. Due to our cells, elites can survive losing organs and other body parts," the man explained, "elite cells also increase our body's natural healing factor. My cells are capable of regenerating all the organs and body parts I've lost."
"How long do you think that'll take?" Koji asked the man.
"That's where you come in," the man said as he began to smile, "I want you to speed up my cells. That'll cause my body to heal quicker."
Koji stepped towards him as he said, "Are you sure it'll work?"
The man nodded, causing Koji to begin to manipulate his prana.
"Speed Prana: x10!"
The man let out a sigh of relief as he began to feel his body healing. He also felt his signature and ririsu prana slowly begin to return to him, "thank you," the man said as he put his hakama on properly and began to walk away, "try to speed up your cells too. They may not be elite cells but, they still heal your body."
The man peeked at his wound and realized it had not closed yet, "my full power will still take some time to return," he whispered, "even after he sped up my cells, the injury still needs more time to heal."
"Where are you going?" Koji asked.
"There's someone I'd like to add to our team," the man replied, "Aziel has a group of talented kids with immense potential. He has Val, who's an elite in training, Cora, who is of royal blood, and Raijah, who, due to his divine prana, has the most potential of them all."
"I'd also like to make a team of individuals," the man said.
"Raijah also has someone with dark prana on his side," Koji added, "I'm not sure if he'll be with them for long."
The man nodded as he prepared to leave.
"Wait!" Koji yelled, causing the man to turn around.
"You never told me your name. When Aziel told the royal family about the death of his parents, he never mentioned that he had a brother," Koji said as he awaited an answer.
"My name is David," the man replied.
Before the man could leave, he remembered something.
"I almost forgot," David said as his dark prana erupted out of him.
David teleported in front of Koji with his scythe in his hand. He coated his scythe with prana, and although the tip of the blade lightly touched Koji's forehead, it caused blood to trickle down Koji's face.
Koji's legs began to tremble as his eyes filled with fear.
"I-I thought we were on the same side," Koji stuttered as he looked into the man's dark eyes.
"We are," David said as Koji dropped to his knees.
"But, before I saved you, I heard what you said to Aziel," David said as his prana engulfed the room, "I'll let you know right now. If you mock the death of my parents again, I won't hesitate to kill you myself."
Koji quickly nodded his head, and as he did, David's blade teleported away.
"Good," David said as his aura disappeared, "stay here. I'll be back."
David teleported away, leaving a bleeding Koji on the floor.
"Does their entire family give off that feeling of fear?" Koji asked himself as he continued to shiver.
He could feel the blood from his forehead slowly trickle down his face, and as he looked at his bloodstained suit, Koji realized his mouth also tasted like blood.
"I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to catch up to David, Aziel, or even Sergio," Koji admitted as he sat alone, bleeding in the pitch-black room.