[WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES OF CANNIBALISM AND HARM OF A MINOR THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING! DISCRETION IS ADVISED!]
The mahogany doors of the Immortalis Manor swing open letting Sola and Francine rush in. The main hall was dimly lit by several candles leading up to the top of the centre staircase. The two looked up to see someone standing just beyond the light. Francine squinted to see who it was, but she was unable to make them out.
"Who's there?" She called out to the person. "We need to speak to Master Immortalis. Master Jonathan has been kidnapped,"
"I'll think you find that I'm right at home, Francine," The person on top of the staircase said.
The figure descended from the staircase revealing themselves to be none other than Jonathan Immortalis. From the darkness also emerged a figure draped in a black cloak. Sola immediately noticed the cloak was similar to the one Darwin had worn. Rage filled the grey-haired man's eyes.
"It was you," He growled. "You're the one who hired Darwin and this ass hat to kidnap you,"
"What? Why would he do that?" Francine asked Sola.
"Why else?" Jonathan asked rhetorically. "How else would I be able to test my hero's strength but have him pit against individuals after my life?"
"So Fólórunsó was just collateral damage?"
"Oh, no! That was something I did intentionally,"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Sola lunged at the young Immortalis. Iku leapt in front of Jonathan to protect him. The assassin was not even allowed to attack before he was knocked out by the raging beast that was Sola. He continued forward towards Jonathan with veins on the point of bursting as he thrust his fist to punch him. The red-haired boy smiled wildly as the fist ripped through his chest.
"It feels so good to have you inside me!" Jonathan cried in ecstasy.
"Shut up," Sola said as he pulled his arm out of the boy.
Sola went in for a second blow but was knocked back by a knee to the chin. The man stumbled back, almost falling off the staircase before getting drop-kicked in the chest. He was sent flying down the stairs and crashing into the ground. Jonathan laughed maniacally as he pulled his shirt off. The wound in his chest began to heal immediately, his flesh reattaching and his skin covering it almost immediately. There was not even a scar left to show that there had been any damage done there.
"So much for a weak healing factor," Sola commented.
"Don't tell me you actually believed me when I told you that?" Jonathan smiled. "But then again, if you didn't believe the ruse then it wouldn't have worked,"
Jonathan brought his arm to his mouth and dug his teeth into his arm. The sound of his flesh ripping filled the room as his blood poured to the ground, dripping off his elbow. The Immortalis swallowed his own meat, continuing to devour himself until only his skeletal arm was left. Blood stained his mouth like messy lipstick, making his smile more depraved. He lunged at Sola and drove his bone arm into his shoulder. Metallic blood poured out of the wound, covering Jonathan's arm.
"Silver blood?" The Immortalis commented. "I thought you were from Pedtro, not Jormurd?"
"Where the fuck is that?" Sola knocked Jonathan with a punch.
Though he was doing his best to maintain his composure, Sola was unable to hide his shock at being injured by the boy. Even though he had been weakened, it was not often that he would sustain something akin to a laceration or a stab wound. He tightened the veins around the injury and charged at the Immortalis with killing intent. It did not matter if he was weak enough to be wounded if he could kill Jonathan.
As the two fought each other, a figure appeared beside Francine. It was none other than the woman from before who was now spectating the fight with the younger woman.
"Mistress!" Francine exclaimed once she noticed her presence.
"You're hurt," the woman said. She stretched out her hand to her. A surge of warmth enveloped Francine's body. She could feel as a mysterious energy coursing through her and repairing all her wounds. In almost an instant, she had been healed.
"Thank you, Mistress,"
"So that is the Silver Bulwark," The woman commented. "I thought he'd be taller,"
She watched the fight between Sola and Jonathan with intense interest.
"He lives up to expectations, but he is in no condition to win this fight,"
Sola panted as he tried to keep up with the smiling mad child. His body was too injured and fatigued for him to go on fighting him regularly. His blood began to swirl into his hand as he fended off Jonathan's attack. As it took shape, the woman's attention was called to the absence of Revel in the blood.
"An Esper? That's interesting,"
The silver blood took the form of a spear once more. Jonathan's smile grew even wider, ripping his lips at the edges as he was witnessing an aspect of Sola's power he had never heard of. With veins bulging to their maximum capacity as Sola launched his Gungnir once again. The spear became a silver blur, moving too fast for the red-haired to react to. In an instant, half of Jonathan's head was ripped off by the spear. The spear halted in the air and flew back through the Immortalis' body, splitting open his abdomen and returning to Sola's hand.
Despite his guts being scattered across the floor, Jonathan remained standing. It was as though he had not even marred. Almost instantly, his body began to repair itself. Bone, then veins, then flesh, then skin, grew in seconds. Even the self-cannibalised hand regrew it that same instant. Once again, the boy showed why he was known as and Immortalis. Sola could hardly believe what he was witnessing. He pulled back to throw Gungnir once again, but his lack of blood began to hit him, causing him to drop to one knee.
"Come on, Sola. Don't tell that's it!" Jonathan laughed. He ran over to the downed man and kicked his face, laying him flat on the ground.
"I've waited days for this day ever since I first heard of you. All your strength, all your power, all your grandeur. It was so infatuated that I could not help but to lust for your life!"
Jonathan peeled back the flesh on his fingers to reveal the bone once more. He stabbed his hands into Sola's stomach, causing him to grunt in pain. Francine tried to go help the man but was stopped by the woman beside her.
"You'll only get yourself killed," she said.
"Your greatest is outstanding and you are bound to achieve more, just as you will eventually stop achieving," Jonathan continued. "I cannot stand the thought of you growing old and becoming too weak to be the Silver Bulwark! The Bulwark must never age! Never shake! Never crumble!"
He went on and on, each time he glorified what Sola should be, he stabbed him over and over and over again.
"For you to stay what I want you to be, you need to die," Jonathan smiled. "I guess it's true what they say, never meet your heroes or you might end up killing them!"
As Jonathan raised his hands to land the finishing blow, the mahogany doors of the Immortalis Manor flew open once more. On the outside, stood none other than Fólórunsó.