Humming to herself, Star collects supplies from the local market as Eclipse just examines the store in awe.
"I wish we had these types of stores in Tranquil...." He says.
"You don't have a market?" Star asks while picking up some food.
"Well, we do... It's just that it's not as big, nor the food isn't that good." He replies.
"So, what do you eat?" The girl asks, placing the food in her shopping bag.
"I usually just steal food from other stores." He says with a frown.
Star remembers how she met Ikari; she giggles at the boy.
———————————
Rage, that's all Ikari feels as he bolts towards the town.
The same pictures of his family and friends appear in the boy's head; this only enrages him more.
The memory of him holding his mother's corpse while the group of bastards just looked at him.
"I can't, no... I won't let him get away!" He says to himself.
He speeds himself up as he sees the grey-haired bastard walk into the entrance of Tranquil.
He follows him in not long after; he quickly looks around and spots the man walking away.
Ikari grips his fist and quickly follows him.
He bumps into other people who angrily yell at him, but he doesn't care. He just shoves them away and focuses his eyes on the man.
The man turns his head and looks at Ikari with the same smirk on his face that Ikari hated.
He winks at the rage-infested boy as if he was inviting him to follow. He continues, but this time, he begins running.
Ikari quickly follows. This time he knocks down anyone he bumps into.
He can hear the man laughing as he ducks into alleyways. Ikari quickly follows suit.
The grey-haired man continues to run until he sees a dead-end; Ikari slides around the corner and gives him a death stare.
"So you're able to keep up?" The man says with a chuckle.
Ikari doesn't even blink as he slowly walks closer to the bastard.
The man bursts out a cocky smile.
Suddenly a gust of wind circles around the man as he gets lifted and placed onto the roof of the building.
Ikari, unfazed by the wind, just stares at the man.
"The more you run, the longer I'll make this." He says coldly.
The man laughs at his claim.
"I look forward to it!" He yells.
Flames of rage form into Ikari's legs as he quickly jumps and lands onto the same roof.
"Not bad." The man smiles.
He quickly turns around and begins jumping from roof to roof, Ikari following suit.
"This is starting to piss me off." Ikari thinks to himself.
He holds out his hand as a fireball forms from it.
Ikari flings the ball of flame towards the man, who just chuckles. As soon as the fireball gets close, it gets ripped to shreds in a blink of an eye.
"What?!" Ikari exclaims.
The man continues to laugh as he jumps down off of a roof and into another alleyway; Ikari makes a noise of anger before dropping down as well.
But, to his surprise, he landed in a dead-end.
He spots the man pressing up against the wall as if he was panicking.
Ikari quickly shakes off the confusion and begins to walk towards the man.
"I've been craving this day ever since you bastards took everything from me." He says coldly. Flames of rage surround his arm as he edges closer.
"After you, I'll come for the others. Then after the others, I'll slay the bastard who spared me!" He screams as he slams his fist into the man, but as soon as he touches the man, he turns to dust.
"W-What?" Ikari says, taken aback.
Suddenly a voice speaks out from behind the boy.
"You stand out, don't you, Ikari Phoenix?"
Ikari quickly turns his head to face the voice.
There stands the same grey-haired man leaning up against a wall. He gives Ikari the same smirk, which pisses him off more than anything.
"The names Draven, it's good to see you again." He says.
He gets off the wall and begins walking towards Ikari.
"How long has it been? Maybe around three years?" He chuckles.
"You've grown a lo-"
"SHUT UP!" Ikari screams as he tries to slam his fist into Draven's face, but his fist is caught by something.
The smile on Draven's face drops as he points his palm at Ikari.
"Wind Barrier: Burst."
Suddenly, a force slams into Ikari's stomach, which sends him flying through the dead-end wall.
Ikari crashes into the street of Tranquil. The citizens quickly turn their heads to the scene.
Draven slowly walks through the hole and dust that Ikari's body created.
He begins to walk towards Ikari, who lies on the ground.
"Sorry about that; I don't like to be interrupted." He says coldly.
The man crouches down next to Ikari.
"Let's cut right to the chase since you want to be all pissed."
"Fuck you," Ikari replies.
Draven laughs at his words.
"You're still a boy. You can't be using those words." He claims.
Ikari spits on his face. He can see the man get mad at his action.
Draven picks up Ikari by his cloak and punches him, which sends him flying into a house.
The citizens of Tranquil begin to run and scream for help as things quickly get chaotic.
The boy quickly pulls himself up as Draven continues to walk to him.
"If I can kill you, I can finally complete my mission...." Draven says quietly.
Suddenly, guards run to the scene and aim their weapons at Draven.
"Hands in the air!" They yell.
The man sighs and points his palm at them.
"Gale Bullets." He says calmly.
Ferocious wind surrounds Draven, The wind forms into small bullets.
"Release," Draven commands the bullets; they begin to fly towards the guards with insane speed, the bullets quickly rip through them, leaving holes in their bodies. The guards drop dead.
"If you value your life, you won't interfere." The man claims.
Ikari uses the distraction to his advantage as he quickly dashes and crashes his fist into Draven's face.
But the man doesn't move at all; he quickly turns his head towards Ikari and spits up blood.
"Not bad!" He exclaims.
"You bastard!" Ikari screams as he continues to try to punch and kick him, but Draven blocks or dodges every single one of his attacks.
"This is getting boring...." Says the man; he dodges another of Ikari's punches before he kicks the side that sends him blasting towards another house.
He crashes into the home as debris crashes into the street.
"D-Dammit!" He yells at himself.
————————————————
"This line is so long!" Star yells.
"That's your average day in Sebastian's Omen for you," Hina says with a smile.
"There's so many people..." Eclipse replies.
Star sighs.
"Gods know what Ikari is up to...He probably started a war by now." She says while scratching her head.
"So where are y'all even heading?" Hina asks.
"Hmm... I don't know, and I guess wherever Ikari wants to go." She replies.
A smug grin appears on Hina's face as Star immediately turns red.
"N-No! That wasn't what I meant!" She yells embarrassedly.
Star continues to panic while Hina laughs at her embarrassment.
Eclipse creaks his head at the pair in confusion.
"Hey... Does Ikari's dagger normally glow?" He asks.
"H-Huh?" Star mutters.
As soon as the girl looks down at the dagger, it bursts out of her hand and crashes through the store's wall with insane amounts of speed. It leaves a dark red aura behind as it continues to travel.
"W-What was that?!" Hina yells in confusion.
Star quickly runs to the hole made from the dagger, only to get a glimpse of the blade flying away.
"It's heading towards Tranquil...." She says with concern.
——————————————————
The oncoming dagger flies into Ikari's hand, which has the same dark red aura around him.
"Blood lust, stage one!"
The aura bursts around the boy as his appearance changes.
"Oh? So this is the blood lust power?" Draven questions.
The blood-craving boy begins to walk towards Draven slowly while spinning his dagger around. Ikari gets close to the grey-haired man's face.
Draven puts on the same smirk.
"Show me why Azrail spared you." He says.
Ikari's eyes widen with rage.
"Azrail?" The boy questions.
"You didn't know him?" Draven replies, confused.
He laughs at the boy.
"You want to kill all of us but don't even know our names? You're pathetic!" He laughs.
Ikari gives him an unimpressed look.
"The more you talk, the more you suffer," He says coldly.
The smile on Draven's face fades.
"Let's see if you can live up to our expectations."
The two stare at each other, both are waiting for the other to make the first move.
For once, silence arrives in the scene, the only noise being the wind.
In a blink of an eye, Ikari disappears from Draven's view.
He suddenly feels a presence behind him, and he turns around only to see Ikari swinging at him. Draven quickly sidesteps his attack.
Ikari quickly follows his attacks by slicing and slinging his dagger at the man, but every time he cuts, the wind barrier activates and stops the boy's attacks, echoing a clanging noise every time it blocks it.
"Damnit! That barrier is strong...." He thinks to himself.
"I have to come up with som-"
"Wind Barrier Burst," Draven says.
Ikari quickly comes back to his senses as he's blasted into the air once again.
He crashes into the ground and quickly recovers as the attack's momentum causes him to slide against the floor.
Dust forms from the ground as it covers Ikari's position.
Draven chuckles as he walks towards the dust slowly.
"Is that all you got?" He says.
A figure appears in the dust; the sound of coughing is heard.
"Oh well, let me end this," He says. Draven points his palm at the figure hidden in the dust.
"Gale Bullets."
The wind that surrounds Draven begins spinning around him with an unbelievable amount of speed.
"Release."
The wind bullets begin to bolt towards the figure, the gale rips apart the dust, only to reveal a small boy, completely terrified.
Draven's face changes from a fully confident look into a look of distress.
"Shit!" He exclaims.
The boy flinches and looks away from his oncoming death, but nothing happens.
He slowly looks up and sees a figure standing in front of him.
Ikari stands there, breathing heavily as blood gushes out from the bullet wounds.
Draven lets out a sigh of relief and quickly puts on the same cocky smirk he had.
"So you don't just care for yourself...." He says.
Ikari, still breathing heavily, looks at the kid.
"G-go..." He mutters.
"T-Thank you!" The kid replies as he gets up and begins to run away.
Ikari slowly turns back around and begins to walk towards Draven.
"The so-called stray soul, protecting a random kid?" He jokes.
The boy continues to limp towards him, but he doesn't get far. He collapses onto one knee.
Draven laughs at the boy,
"Well, it was worth a try," He says.
The blood lusted fiend continues to try to catch his breath as Draven begins walking towards him.
"And to think that Azrail spared you," He says coldly. He begins to hold his hand as the wind starts forming into it.
"Who knows? Maybe in another life, we could have been friends; we share the same goal after all."
The wind fires into a visible spear as he holds it above his head.
"Your power is mine, Ikari Phoenix."
The wind spear flies towards Ikari's back, but he suddenly disappears.
"What?!" Draven exclaims.
Draven turns his head only to be met with Ikari's fist slamming into his face, which causes a vast "SMACK!" to echo through Tranquil.
Draven flies through two buildings, which causes even more destruction to the town.
Ikari watches the dust quickly form from the debris as he continues catching his breath.
The man groans and quickly pulls himself up from the broken materials.
"Playing a little bit of possum, aren't we Ikari?!" He yells.
Draven spits up some blood and wipes the dust off of him.
"You bastard, you'll pay for that!"
The grey-haired man forms a sword with the wind around him and bolts out of the dust towards Ikari.
Ikari quickly rolls out of his way and calls his dagger, which flies into his hand.
Draven quickly regains himself and begins to run at Ikari. The boy starts running towards the man as well.
"I guess we're getting serious now, huh?!" The man yells with a smile.
He swings his wind sword at Ikari, who dodges it; the boy replies by slicing at the man with his dagger, only for it to be avoided as well.
The two continue slashing and hacking at each other, but they permanently block or dodge the attacks.
The "CLANGS" of their blades continues to echo through the town, both fighters not letting the other gain an advantage.
Dammit... I can't do shit against him. Ikari thinks to himself. There has to be some sort of opening... He continues to parry Draven's blade.
"Don't get tired now, Ikari!" Draven says with a chuckle.
"I wouldn't dream of it!" He exclaims.
Suddenly, his dagger lights up with the same dark red aura.
"Okay! CROSSLASH!" Ikari screams as he swings his dagger downwards at Draven.
Draven's eyes widen at the dagger; he tries to block it, but; the wind blade shatters whenever the sword touches it.
The magic from Ikari's dagger continues to overwhelm the man as he's forced onto his knees.
Flames of rage form and surround Ikari's legs.
"So this is the- "Draven gets cut off as Ikari's leg slams into the side of his head, which sends him flying and crashing into the ground.
The flames slowly disappear from Ikari's leg as he continues to limp towards Draven.
Draven, clearly in pain, slowly sits up. He examines himself; he's shocked at the amount of damage Ikari has dealt with him, riling him up.
"I can't...." He mutters to himself.
"I CAN'T LET SOME BRAT TAKE AWAY MY DREAM!" He screams as a massive burst of wind erupts around the area!
"MY SISTER, I HAVE TO AVENGE HER!"
The wind continues getting stronger as the man screams!
"I HAVE TO END AZRAIL!"
At this point... He might cause a tornado! Ikari thinks to himself.
The wind is so ferocious that it rips apart some of the buildings, which causes debris to shoot out at Ikari!
He tries to ready his dagger, but the wind is so strong that he can barely move.
The debris crashes into the boy; the destroyed materials quickly engulf him.
Draven finally stops his yelling as the wind calms down.
He examines the pile that engulfed Ikari.
He tries catching his breath.
"You were close-"
"WINDCUTTER!" Ikari's screaming cuts the man off as a massive beam explodes out of the pile and flies towards Draven.
His eyes widen with rage as the beam of energy pierces his shoulder, cutting his arm clean off.
He screams in pain as Ikari slivers his way out of the debris.
Damn, that took almost all of my energy. Ikari says to himself. He once barely limps towards Draven, trying not to fall from exhaustion.
"Why won't you die?...." Draven groans in pain as Ikari edges closer.
"Just like you, I have my own goal...." Ikari replies quietly.
"No... Not just a goal, it's my promise...." He says.
"And I'll do anything to make it happen!" He yells.
Draven looks at the boy and seems as if he's thinking about something.
As Ikari slowly edges closer, Draven slowly rises to his knees and faces the boy.
"But... Can you keep another promise?" He asks.
Ikari stops in his tracks whenever he gets close to Draven.
"Why should I keep a promise of the man who took everything from me?" He replies.
A look of guilt appears on Draven's face.
"You have a right to feel this way...." Draven says.
"I'm sorry for what I di-"
"Pleading won't save you!" Ikari yells, which cuts Draven off, but the man continues.
"I don't expect you to forgive me, and I doubt you ever will, which is fine by me...."
"I wonder what my sister would think of me now... Being on the same side with the bastard that killed her."
Ikari's eyes widen at his words.
"If you hate Azrail, why did you join him?" Ikari asks.
Draven takes a moment before answering due to his blood loss.
"I didn't have a choice... He forced me to join after he had killed my sister right in front of me," He says with sorrow.
"I refused for a while. But, like everyone else who refused to join, he tortured and brainwashed them to the point that they wanted to join...."
"He made me watch my sister's death, over and over. Until I eventually snapped...." He says tears begin to form in his eyes.
Ikari grips his fist in anger just by hearing this.
"I didn't want to exterminate your clan... I knew how it felt to be completely alone. But; Azrail forced me too, and if I didn't, not only would I have lost the chance to revenge my sister, I would have been forced to watch it another two thousand times...." Draven finally finishes.
Ikari is completely taken aback by his words. T-the emotions he's emitting. Ikari says to himself. Why do I... Feel bad for him?... Ikari is conflicted with his feelings as the man continues to breathe heavily.
"Ikari... Promise me that you will avenge my sister for me?" He pleads.
"W-What?" Ikari says, clearly confused.
"Please, finally kill Azrail and his madness!" Draven yells with desperation.
Tears stream down Draven's face as he continues losing blood.
A moment of silence hits the area before Ikari gets down to his knees in front of Draven.
He grabs his arm and stares him in the eyes.
"I promise..." He says calmly.
Draven looks at the boy; he cracks up before putting on a relieved smile.
"Thank you, Ikari."
He nods at the boy before putting his head down, ready for death. Ikari raises his dagger to the man's stomach. He takes a deep breath before stabbing him in the stomach, mercy killing him.
"Thank you..." he says weakly as he slowly dies in Ikari's arms.
Ikari looks up at the perfect blue sky as his appearance changes back to normal.
Nothing but pure silence hits the town; Ikari gently lays Draven's body down.
Ikari looks around the town. The damage done to it is devastating. Destroyed houses that still have dust forming out of it, destroyed buildings, and dead bodies on the streets.
Darkness invades Ikari's vision as he collapses onto the ground, unconscious.