"You..." Sazoru left in surprise about his long-deceased brother.
"You should've died... How? Why?" Sazoru couldn't believe his eyes that he saw his long-dead brother and struggled to understand what was going on.
"Am I now? Took you long enough to know this wonderful body." The man smiled.
"What do you mean? B-body...?" Sazoru didn't fully understand what he meant, he thought that he was imagining things after seeing his brother.
"Oh, you'll get it soon enough" The man ignited the black flame from his hands.
The man used his black flame magic and Sazoru used his flame magic. They both clashed and created a giant flame wave. However, the man's black flame was stronger, pushing Sazoru back.
"BWAHAHAHAHA, there's no stopping me! I'm undefeatable!" The man was overconfident and felt powerful that his flames were better.
As his black flames were about to reach Sazoru's palm, he blasted away from the blast and got slammed to the wall.
"Face it, these flames are perfection." The man walked slowly approaching Sazoru.
"ANSWER ME! WHO ARE YOU!?" With his fury boiling at the sight of his brother, Sazoru questioned him loudly.
"Me? I'm just a guy who enjoys a good piece of art. The fire, the heap of bodies, and the destruction are all works of art!" The man smirked maniacally.
"YOU!" Sazoru clenched his fist and prepared to strike him hard. He couldn't stand his face or his actions, which were diametrically opposed to his brother's.
Sazoru slammed his hand into his face, sending him falling. The man was thrown to the 12th floor of a flaming building by the force of his fist.
Sazoru jumped furiously to the building to finish him off.
"Hahaha, feisty! That's more like it!" When the man touched his chin, blood began to flow from his mouth. He cleaned it clean and spit the blood out.
"YOU! I ASKED YOU ONE MORE TIME! WHO ARE YOU?!" Sazoru stomped his foot on the floor, threatening to answer his question.
"My name is Dr.Savanth Lavastone, pleased to meet you!" Savanth rose to his feet and sneered.
"You're not... him?" Sazoru looked perplexed, as though he had been mistaken for someone else.
"Of course I am. Physically. Wanna hear a story of how I got this wonderful body?"
"Tell me the truth!" Sazoru grunted, clenching his fist.
"Once upon a time, after your dear brother, Ishou Aoi Vlahadeer, died, I removed his body from his grave. Modified it, improved it, experimented with it, and made his body perfect. From his awakening before his death, his flames were as strong and magnificent as one would expect from a blue flame. His demise, however, was cut short by a creature storming through your residence. Fortunately for me, I was given the opportunity to obtain his body." Savanth explained his story.
"While everyone else was paralyzed in their grief, I stole his body. And after three years of making and fixing this body, his flames became black, signaling that the flame of death had come to my own hands. What a fantastic mix of disaster, death, and destruction! These flames are glorious and lovely. My hunger was satiated by their colors of death. That's all my story for you, younger brother. Hahahaha!" Savanth told the entire story, which made Sazoru silent.
Sazoru's face was expressionless, his gaze fixed on the ground, and he paused for a while. In a mix of confusion and anger, Sazoru didn't know what to feel.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Savanth mocked Sazoru. Sazoru went into a deep silence for 11 seconds straight, clenching his fist. His mind was filled with images of his brother, but now that his body was stolen, the reminiscence shattered apart from Savanth discomforting laugh.
"I'll kill you!" He mumbled while clutching his fist and bled.
"(Hmm? Am I shivering? This pressure...)" Savanth heard his words but continued to smile. He only saw Sazoru's burning glare, which he find a pleasuring feeling.
Sazoru's hand began to burn brightly, then delivered a massive punch at Savanth with his fierce flames, demolishing the entire structure in front of him.
His punch was received to his ribs and launched him off the building. He laughed as he coughed blood, knowing that he pulled the trigger on him. Sazoru went insane and would go to any length to kill him.
Meanwhile, Akira...
"Ugh, where am I? ...Crap! I better find him!"
Akira got up and headed through to find the man while running naked.
"Kazoru!" Akira shouted.
"Akira! You're aliv- eh?" Kazoru was surprised when he saw Akira naked in the streets.
"Why are you naked?" Kazoru questioned.
"There's no time for that! Where is he, that black flame mage guy?" Akira questioned him.
"He's fighting my uncle!" Kazoru answered.
"Damn it, guess we can't do anything about it, but just let him do his job" Akira dropped his scythe.
"Yeah, aside from that, why are you naked?" Kazoru questioned again.
"Oh... Uh, my clothes were burned off, so yeah, hehe" Akira reasoned.
"Really? I thought you had such a weird hobby..." Just like that, a misunderstanding made Kazoru think entirely wrong about Akira. Basically, Shura made the misunderstandings about him at first, but he didn't believe it at first, and now he did.
"NO, IT'S NOT IT!" Akira argued.
Shatter!
The sound of glass shattering in a building destroyed the whole structure.
"He's up there facing his brother," Kazoru said
"His brother?" Akira got distracted momentarily from believing they had a brotherly feud.
"His face... No wonder he's familiar, I thought he died."
"Is that so... wait, wait, wait... Could you tell me what's going on? Maybe tell me about his story, I'm completely clueless." Akira was perplexed about what he was talking about.
"Sure!"
Around 21 years ago, when Sazoru was only 12 years old and Kitsune was only 9 years old living in the Vlahadeer's residence.
His brother was only 14 and he aspired to be a warrior and most of his dream was becoming a general. So he trained his guts to exhaustion day after night until he earned an awakening and turned his flames blue. And, he succeeded within 5 years. He became a warrior and helped others and inspired his younger brother and sister to become a warrior.
His younger brother, Sazoru, witnessed his actions of becoming a warrior and helping other people, but his family law was tied to him, and a noble law was strict against him, as a noble should not work for the sake of others such as peasants or citizens. But because he resented it and refused to live as a noble, he was labeled a noble failure. However, his younger brother still admired him, but only until that tragic day...
4 years later, a monster suddenly attacked their noble homes. Except for the Vlahadeer, who were fire proficient mages. They held their own against the monsters, and a golem rampaged the entire place, killing people mercilessly, but his brother Ishou went up against the monsters' leader, only to have him killed as a result, mysteriously. Sazoru went in search of his brother and soon discovered his corpse.
In that tragedy, 77 people were killed, and he was carrying his dreams and wills with him all this time, so he became what he wanted, a general.
Kazoru explained the whole story.
Akira inquired if his uncle had another big brother that was his dad, he said no and told him that he was his cousin from overseas, Kazoru was trained and stayed here when he was 10.
Savanth got up after falling to the ground. Savanth was 266 meters away from Akira and Kazoru, who intended to strike him but did not want to disrupt Sazoru's rage.
Sazoru stood on the roof of a 56th stories building.
"I'll KILL YOU!" He muttered, gritting his teeth and glaring down at Savanth.
"Hahahahaha! What's the matter? You're getting all worked up over nothing! He. Died. And there's nothing you can do about it!" Savanth scoffed while bursting out laughing maniacally.
Sazoru closed his mouth and raised his right hand with his palm facing the sky. He created a ball of flame that was a size of an asteroid and was willing to destroy Celesta...