" He He!" The beast cackled at Brandon's crash sight. [" Oh that was a good one. . .He thought he caught me by surprise but nope! Now he's dead!"
" No Way..." Reha spoke softly, Zack stood wide-eyed next to her staring at the dust cloud where his brother had landed.
" yes way. Hate to break it to you but if my punches are strong enough to make a dent in this hear ground. . .Then I'm sorry. . .Not sorry to say he is dead."
" Dame you!"
Zack finally spoke. His teeth were finding together as his anger reached a boil within him. He turned and faced the beast, his mana output suddenly increased past even what Brandon was capable of. The veins in his arms were showing and his voice was full of anger and hate towards his enemy.
" You're nothing like the others." Reha standing next to him could feel the animosity surrounding Zack. Causing her to grow even more concerned than she already was. . .This type of anger will lead to rash decisions. She was angry too but not to Zack's degree...She was much different. She felt she should have been able to do something to help Brandon...Again she was reminded.
" What do you mean like the others?" The beast spoke with an antagonizing grin strung across his face. He was provoking Zack more and more with each second he held that face.
" Your comrades. They were at least human. I could feel their sincerity when I fought. hell, I could hear and see it, but you share none of that. They fought because they felt they had no choice...But you. You enjoy the killing of others!"
" You don't know what we're fighting for." the towering beast raised his voice. His antagonizing smile remained but his eyes seemed more serious than before. " We might not know the goal of our king sure, but everyone has a reason to be fighting this war just like you all."
" Tch Shu-"
" I'm not speaking in terms of defending your home. I'm talking about all of your personal reasons. Everyone has something to fight for. I'm sure for most of them it was simply to come home to their families once it's all over."
" Uh!" Zack froze. Reha noticed this, the similarity to earlier after their first engagement. It was identical, the look on his face...She knew exactly what he was thinking and he couldn't have those thoughts right now...
" Zack!" She placed her hand on his shoulder but he remained frozen giving her no sort of response. [ " I always thought he was so cold to others. Yet it's the exact opposite. Despite how he acted. He's too pure to be fighting this war. More pure than me or his brother."]
" Yet you killed them, didn't you? I'm sure they had their reasons for fighting reasons you might not understand. You'll try to tell yourself it's not your fault you had no choice but that's simply an excuse you all use to justify the killing of others."
Zack remained still. His thoughts had become all jumbled into one big mess about what's right and wrong. Pushing past morals was so easy for his brother and Reha who stood next to him trying to snap him out of it, but he was lost.
" So you are right. I am different. . .I don't need an excuse because what you said is true." His mana output suddenly increased again. His skin again turned into sharp blades that covered his body. " I enjoy this kind of thing!!"
Skin blades were fired from his body. Zack finally reacted/ Bending down and placing on hand on the floor. His reflexes were that of a caats even though he was still dazed. Reha summoned wind and redirected them into the air.
Reha jumped up and summoned another wind gust sending the blades back at the beast who didn't move an inch as the blades simply bounced off of him. Following this, the beast dashed to the right quickly positioning himself with Brandon to his back.
[" He truly believes Brandon is dead! No, he can't be...I've known him for so long, something this small won't kill him. He'll refuse to die to something like that."]
Zack focused his mana into his hand where a multi-colored ball appeared at his fingertips. Advanced basic attack magic. something only the brothers are capable of.....It spun counter-clockwise as Zack fired it at the beast.
This time it recognized their attack as a threat and defended it's self bringing its massive arms up in front of its face. The smile remained across its face as he indeed was enjoying this.
" Boosh!"
The attack landed and caused the beast to slide back its feet digging into the dirt and creating another dust storm.
" Fwip!"
The beast shot from that cloud with tremendous speed no one would expect it to have. It closed the distance to Reha in an instant.
" Shim!"
She stomped on the floor creating an ice wall straight up in front of her. The impact of the beast's fist shattered it but with it blocking his line of sight on her she vanished into the sky above it.
She descended down on it. The beast only noticed her moments before she struck him. The sharp scythe, sharp enough to cut a small bolder in half descended on its face. The red glint of the metal shined brightly as it connected.
" Clang!!"
Rehas eyes widened as the blade was stopped. Not by a weapon or the beast's arms...But by its face. Specifically, it's teeth. It grinned at her causing a chill to run down her spine. She quickly twerlled around the handle of her weapon landing a kick with mana put behind it on the beast fast causing its head to recoil back freeing her weapon.
" He he! Should have gone for my neck." The beast commented arrogantly
" Fwip!"
Suddenly Zack appeared behind the beast. His blade was drawn replicating the same move his brother attempted to make. Reha saw the beast's grin widen as it turned with incredible speed once more swinging the back of its fist for Zack.
"Hm!"
A confident grin appeared across Zacks's face just as Reha was about to scream out at him. As the attack approached he suddenly gained an extra foot of air...He expelled mana using it as a platform.
He then landed on the beast's fist and ran down its arm. Its eyes widened as it realized what he had done...I felt an unusual build-up of mana growing from behind Zack, in his left fist. The beast jerked its arm up sending Zack into the air.
' Feww!"
Zack then through his left fist forward as if throwing a punch. The beast looked confusingly at him as he didn't sense any type of magical cast being sent at him...But he still felt that unusual feeling.
" Boom!"
Before it could raise a defense a massive powerful invisible strike connected against its face causing him to recoil. the beast staggered back having to take an extra step to stop itself from falling.
Zack then expelled more mana and used it as a plat for to launch himself at the beast's exposed neck. he pointed the blade straight down aiming for the juggler for a sure kill, but also a painful one.
" Shink!"
Suddenly the beast's sharp skin on its shoulder was fired. Zack then realized he had been lost in his rage and possibly made a fatal mistake.
" Shit!! [ That last attack I used all the mana in the area. Mostly supplied by this beast. I don't have enough to surround myself to create a defense. nor enough time to cast defensive magic effectively!"]
He watched as the shape pieces of skin approached him aiming to land straight on his chest. For sure fatal as they were also laced with an unknown poison. . .He would fail to meet all the expectations set on him. . and his brother.
.
.
.
Brandon was conscious. . .Or was he? He didn't know. He was surrounded by darkness but he had all sense of thought and feeling. . .There was no pain as there should have been though. At first he thought he was dead but, something was too familiar in this place.
" Brother!"
He snapped his head around to be met with an image of his brother, Zack. Only younger. then he saw himself also younger. He then remembered.
[" This was back in military training. We were about 14 years old here"] The thought of him being dead then reappeared in his mind. [" Wait. Is my life flashing before my eyes. . .No, I refuse to die. I can't leav-"]
" Brother!"
The sound of a younger Zack cut him off. They were sitting at a table in a room he couldn't remember. He had a confused look on his face. No a frustrated one.
"What's wrong?" His voice cracked causing Brandon to smile. These days were only a couple of years ago, but it felt like decades had passed. " You look mad."
" Doesn't it frustrate you," He then heard his own younger voice and didn't miss those days so much anymore. " The fact that we have all these expectations on us. Yet we are also expected to achieve those without understanding our magic."
He then remembered this thought he had. he held onto it for some time out of frustration. Anytime he was yelled at by the teachers he would think like this.
"Yeah, I agree," Zack replied. " But we're the first in over . . .A long time." He forgot the years. " We have no teacher. They've taught us how to use basic magic at least."
" yea I guess. . .But every time I train or spar I feel like." Zacks's eyes suddenly widened.
" You feel it too?"
Brandon slowly turned to his brother. At the same time, older Brandon sat and listened. something was happening to his body. A feeling, not pain. . .Something powerful.
" I feel like theirs a new level to this power. Something much stronger. A whole new level of magic in general. so powerful it could redefine our world."
The images then cut away. Leaving Brandon in the pitch black with no light. The feeling though continued to grow. A tingle that. . .Felt good. Like his body was being gifted a supreme energy from a god.
" WAKE UP!" A voice then shouted from the darkness. One he had never heard nor did he recognize in the slightest. But after the shout, a light-filled the darkness.
The dust cleared revealing Brandon's battered body. Blood ran from his forehead down to his right eye. . .But suddenly the eye shaped open like an owl in the night. Revealing his silver eyes with a whole new glow to them.