Raijah stared at Rome, who was still covering his eyes.
"So," Raijah said, "you use your eyes to attack."
"All I have to do is watch out for when you blink."
Rome released his eyes and realized that he was struggling to see.
"It doesn't matter if you know," Rome said as he rubbed his eyes.
"But, you are right. I use my eyes to attack. I have explosion prana."
"It allows me to make things explode by channeling prana into my eyes and blinking. To use it, I had to master manipulating prana into my eyes. My eyes are now powerful enough to see through things."
Rome placed his finger on the middle of Raijah's chest, "I can see your heart and everything else inside your body. So, I can make things inside your body explode without even touching you."
Raijah took a few steps back.
"Am I scaring you?" Rome asked as he ran his fingers through his afro, "what happened to all that talk from earlier?"
Raijah felt another series of explosions in his body and, blood splattered all over the floor. He could no longer feel his heartbeat.
Raijah dropped to his knees and, his breathing began to slow down.
"This can't be it," Raijah said as he felt another explosion.
Blood leaked out of every part of Raijah's body.
The faster he healed and got new body parts. The faster Rome made them explode.
"I- I can't go like this," Raijah said, struggling to speak.
Rome walked towards Raijah, who looked like he was on the brink of death.
"You almost convinced me," Rome said, "but it seems as though everything you said was just you talking big. You're still a child after all."
"N-no," Raijah said. His vocal cords were almost completely destroyed and, he could barely speak.
"Wait," Raijah thought, "that third prana."
"Hashira said it was similar to ririsu and, Val said ririsu grants new abilities."
"Would that be enough for me to win?"
Raijah felt another explosion and, he felt himself shutting down.
"I don't have a choice," Raijah said as he struggled to lift his remaining arm.
He concentrated and attempted to manipulate the third prana that was in him.
"This prana is hard to control," Raijah said, "but I need at least a little bit."
"Goodbye," Rome said as he prepared to blink, "maybe in another life, we could have been royals that were friends."
Just before Rome blinked, Raijah got some of his third prana out.
It was red like his signature prana but, it felt much more powerful. The prana erupted out of Raijah and shot towards Rome.
Rome was blasted backward by the prana and, the blast began to rip through his skin.
"What is this power?" Rome said as Raijah's prana continued to blast him back.
When the prana finally stopped erupting, Rome's once dark skin was turned red and, he could barely move his body.
Raijah, who was just on his knees, dropped to the ground.
Rome was standing up, and just like Raijah, he was bleeding from every part of his body.
"You almost won," Rome said as he struggled to move, "a little more of that prana would've been enough to defeat me."
"But," Rome continued, "as I said before, your destiny is to lose to me."
"If you would've won that, I would've been convinced," Rome said as he took a deep breath.
"But destiny is absolute."
Rome tried to sit back and, he felt lightning hit his back.
"What?" Rome said with a shocked expression.
He turned around and noticed he had hit the lightning wall Raijah had placed around the castle.
"Wow," Rome said as the lightning surged through his injured body, "what an embarrassing way to lose."
He dropped to the ground, and before he was knocked unconscious, a smile formed on his face, "that boy was right."
Raijah forced his head to move and, he looked across the yard at Rome, who was unconscious on the ground.
"I-I did it," Raijah whispered.
He could still feel the tornado's winds.
"Devil and divine prana are similar," Raijah thought, "so, does Teo have a third prana too?"
Although his vocal cords had not healed, Raijah forced himself to shout.
"Teo! Use that third prana!"
Teo heard Raijah and whispered, "third prana? Does Raijah have that too?"
Val and Cora looked towards Teo expectantly.
"That's not going to happen," Gio said as he dashed towards Teo.
"I'm not sure what that boy was yelling about but, I won't allow you to try anything,"
Gio picked Teo up by his neck and placed him against the tornado, "I'll rip you into devil shreds."
Teo's back was pressed against the tornado and, his clothes and skin began to tear.
"Cora," Val said, "you need to stop Gio while I try to seal this tornado."
Cora nodded her head and dashed towards Gio.
Gio released Teo and turned his attention towards Cora.
Teo dropped to the ground and attempted to catch his breath.
"You're all so annoying," Gio muttered.
"Ririsu Prana: Gale Pull!"
Strong winds slammed into Cora's back and, she soared towards Gio.
Once she was pulled close enough, Gio grabbed onto her neck.
He stared into Cora's blue eyes and said, "you should've just given up."
"Do it, Val!" Cora shouted.
Val had manipulated enough prana and, she slammed her prana coated palm into the tornado.
"Sealing Prana: Prana Seal!"
The tornado disappeared and, Gio turned his head, distracted by the sudden disappearance of his tornado.
"Get away from him!" Teo shouted as he pointed his arm at Gio.
Cora pried herself out of Gio's grasp and dashed towards Val.
Teo manipulated his third prana and, a dark blast shot out towards Gio.
The blast caused Gio to disappear and, Gio emerged in a dark location.
"What just happened," Gio said as he looked around.
The location suddenly got brighter and, Gio noticed that he was surrounded by red flames.
"Where am I?" Gio asked.
He saw four human-looking creatures emerge out of the flames.
They were crawling on all fours and had very pale saggy skin. Their faces had no emotion and, they looked lifeless.
The creatures' necks cracked and turned upside down. With their jaw pointed upwards, they revealed sharp teeth and lunged at Gio.
Gio attempted to manipulate his prana but, he could not move.
"What's going on?" Gio said as the creatures began to eat at his body.
Horns began to grow out of the creatures' upside-down heads and, Gio began to understand.
"No," Gio said with a face filled with despair, "I'm in hell."
Back at the castle, Teo said, "I can't hold it for long. It's making me feel weaker."
"I'm not sure what the attack just did," Teo continued, "but he's gone for now. And, If I stop releasing this third prana, he'll probably come back."
Cora and Val stood beside him, trying to catch their breath.
Raijah felt most of his body parts back in place.
He stood up and punched an entrance into the castle wall.
As Raijah plodded through the castle, the blood that leaked out of his remaining injuries stained the floor and, he continued to struggle with breathing.
Raijah reached a room covered by a curtain and, he stretched out his one arm and opened the curtain.
It revealed the throne room. The king and queen sat on their thrones and, the room was filled with guards in golden armor.
The guards all dashed at Raijah.
"I'm not here for you guys," Raijah said as lightning shot out of him and knocked out every guard in the room.
Raijah stared up at the scared king, who squeezed his wife's hand.
"What do you want. Y-You demon!" the king shouted, "you better not put your hands on me!"
"I'm not here to hurt you," Raijah said as his arm finished growing back.
"I just have one question."
"What is it?" the king shouted.
"What is a king?" Raijah asked.
"Huh?" the king said with a confused expression, "what do you mean?"
"What is a king? Is it an authority? Is it a title? Is it power? Is it a position?" Raijah said.
"It is all of those," the king replied.
"And as a king, I order for you to get the hell out of my castle!"
"It is none of those," Raijah replied, "being a king is a mentality. It is knowing who and what you are and holding yourself to that standard. It's wanting success and being patient enough to find it. It is fighting for what you believe and being a good and strong leader."
"You don't possess any qualities of a king," Raijah said coldly.
He walked closer to the king and stared down at him.
"You have the qualities and mindset of a peasant."
The king and queen quivered in their thrones as Raijah loomed over them.
An explosion followed and, a man sprinted towards Raijah.
"That's no way to talk to royalty," the man said as he appeared between Raijah and the king.
He wore a black uniform and had a pin that said "captain" on the right of his top. The man was dark-skinned and had a bald head.
"Finally!" the king exclaimed, "a captain."
The captain reached for Raijah and, just before he could touch him, a mirror appeared below Raijah and, Raijah fell through it.
Outside the castle, Teo continued to hold the attack.
"I can't do it anymore," Teo said as he stopped releasing his third prana.
Gio reappeared and, his body had several bite marks and, he was soaked in a puddle of blood.
"We should go get Raijah and get out of here," Val said.
She and Cora held Teo up by his shoulders and, before they began to walk, a large mirror appeared below them and, they fell through it.