Still within the forest east of the town, a warm breeze of air blows through the leaves and scatters some fire embers flying off from the fire mage's body.
Dom gulps nervously from the fire mage's threat but Elon laughs. "Send me to hell? You can try, Mr Knight but in case you've forgotten, I'm an S Class Mage. You can't beat me." Elon releases his aura which made a chill crawl up Dom's spine.
"Kid." The fire mage said without looking back. "Since you can walk, you better get back." As he said that, his red aura transforms into flames that quickly surround his body. "… I might not be able to hold back everything."
Dom simply stares briefly in confusion before nodding in understanding as he gets up. "You're not going anywhere. You're still my prey!" Elon raises his arm which Dom sees create a vicious cyclone of wind over his palm. "I'll slice you both into fillets." Elon stomps his foot down, cracking the ground while he thrusts his arm forward.
"Cyclone Slasher!" Elon shouted as the spiral of wind instantly magnify as it is thrown towards them, its massive size completely overshadowing their bodies and slicing through everything in its path.
Elon smirks, proud at the destruction he was causing… before gasping once his spell suddenly disperse, revealing a cyclone of flames which also disperse, revealing both the mage and Dom completely unharmed.
Elon steps back, a nervous sweat bead rolling down his temple. "Impossible."
"You said your class to intimidate me, right? Too bad for you. I'm not the one whose outclassed." The fire mage said as his flames become larger, its heat causing the air around him to sizzle and warp.
Elon groans as his skin starts to burn from the heat which he protects with his wind magic. But Dom's eyes widen when he realizes that he couldn't feel the heat at all, despite everything including the cut trees close to him spontaneously combusting.
"What the hell are you?" Elon asked.
The fire mage takes a low fighting stance with his already steaming fists held up. "The Head Captain of the Royal Knights' 3rd Division. General Anthony Justice."
"Anthony Justice… The Dragon." Dom mumbled with widened eyes.
At first, Elon shivers in fear from the overwhelming presence the mage produced before gritting his teeth. "Hah! There's no way a Monarch would show up in a small town like this. You may be strong but if you can say a lie like that, you must be really stupid!" Elon raises his arm again… but flinches once he realizes that Anthony was gone.
A shock wave suddenly explodes from where Anthony was standing, blowing Dom aside who didn't even realize that Anthony was gone.
Elon desperately looks around, heavy sweat beads sliding down his face… before feeling a hot flush at his left side. The moment he turns, a flaming fist collides with his cheek, scorching his skin and throwing him a couple feet with a resounding smack.
Blood spills out of Elon's opened mouth which he suddenly closes with clenched teeth as he flips back on his feet, sliding to a stop and raising his arms to guard when another punch collides with his gut.
More blood spill out of his mouth as he hunches over in pain. "You bastard." Elon grumbled as he raises a fist only to get hit by another fire punch then another and another and another.
By the time Dom sits up, his eyes widen once he finds Elon being battered with high speed flaming punches by an angry looking Anthony. His fists were nothing more than a blur with Elon's skin and clothes being instantly burnt off.
With one more punch, the broken, charred Elon was sent flying to the side again. But before he could even get far, Anthony crouches before zooming forward in the form of a streak of flames and stops behind the still moving Elon.
With a grunt, he smashes his knee into Elon's back, creating an audible crack before flinging Elon up with a resulting shock wave. Dom simply stares as Elon's body quickly becomes a small speck in the sky while Anthony holds up a palm, creating a ball of flames over it it.
"Even after all these years, there are still so many scums like you now that it's irritating." Anthony said, getting Dom's attention once he points his palm at the now falling Elon. "Just do us all a favour and burn in hell with the rest of your kind."
With those words, the fireball suddenly expands, creating a gust of hot wind around Anthony with the ground of his feet cracking as the spell fires upwards as a beam of flames that instantly consumes Elon's body. He barely manages to scream before going silent once his body begins to disintegrate until nothing was left.
Anthony closes his hand, stopping his spell with the flaming beam now dispersed into tiny fire embers that slowly fall down to the forest. Some of these embers land on Anthony who lowers his steaming fist and lets out a thick cloud of steam from his mouth.
Meanwhile, Dom continues to stare from his seated position. The execution he just witnessed replaying in his head several times. The sheer overwhelming power, speed and ease of how Anthony defeated Elon leaving him completely speechless. As Anthony turns to him, Dom's body shiver.
But this shiver wasn't only due to the fear of the monster in front of him. In the midst of it all, another emotion filled Dom's paralyzed mind. Inspiration.
2 days later...
A funeral was held in the towns graveside for the lives lost due to Elon's hunt. It was around 5 pm in the evening and the attendants were not that much but it was still a sad event.
Among the attendants, Dom now in a black hoodie and jeans shifts uncomfortably, rubbing the bandage on his left cheek while he stares at the man giving the eulogy.
As the man goes on, Dom turns to the sound of crying and finds Matt's mother on her knees, weeping loudly while the town Chief just stares at the coffin with sad eyes. Dom's eyes begins to wander and he finds the other victims' family all grieving in their own ways.
The scenes of their deaths plays in his mind again and Dom frowns just as a gentle hand touches his head. He looks up to find Pops giving him a comforting smile and Dom manages a weak smile. He turns back to the eulogist before finally seeing a certain fire mage watching the ceremony from a distance.
Once Dom recalls Anthony's encounter with Elon, he clenches his small fists tightly.
By the morning of the next day, just outside the main town's gate, the town chief shakes Anthony's hand with a sad smile before walking away along with his escort. Anthony stares at the man with a troubled look on his face before rubbing his neck with a sigh.
"I'm getting too old for this shit." Anthony whispered to himself.
"We're ready, boss." A slim young knight wearing the same uniform as Anthony except for his shirt which was instead a thick looking white jacket bearing the same logo and with a burnt scar over his right eye said, gesturing to a large horse-pulled carriage with a few escorts also on horse back.
Anthony nods and the scarred knight returns to the carriage before glaring at one of the young red-haired knight escorts with a punk hairstyle and a cigar in his mouth.
"Can you stop that?" The scarred knight grumbled and the young escort just rolls his eyes before seeing something in the distance.
The scarred knight halfway up the carriage's driving seat, follows his gaze back to Anthony still a couple feet away as he watches two figures rapidly approaching him. Anthony's eyes widen a little in recognition of the smaller figure.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Dom's guardian. With everything going on these few days, I never got a chance to say it." Pops bows his head. "Thank you for saving him, General."
Anthony smiles as he nods at Pops. "I'm just glad I got there in time. How is he?"
Pops turns to Dom. "His wound is fine but it'll likely leave a scar. I'm just happy that's the only thing he got. As for his mental state," Pops rub Dom's head. "I think he's doing okay given the situation. He's a tough kid." Pops then smiles. "In fact, he said that he had something to say to you."
"Really?" Anthony asked as he turns to Dom who had not been able to make eye contact with him since that day. Anthony moves a little closer and gets on a knee to stare directly at Dom's face. "Dominic, was it? What did you want to tell me?" He asked with a friendly smile.
Pops gently pats Dom's back, giving him a friendly boost to finally speak. "Thank you for saving me, Mr Dragon."
"You can just call me Tony and you're very welcome, Dominic." .
"Um… I… I…" Dom trailed off, his hands fidgeting with his jacket, leaving Pops curious while Anthony patiently waits for Dom's words.
After a brief moment, Dom takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes before widely opening his mouth. "I'm going to become the greatest knight!"
Dom's bold words create a certain awkward silence with every listener staring in complete shock, except for Anthony who suddenly laughs loudly. "I see. The greatest knight, huh." Anthony chuckled.
Dom nods. "That's why I want you to tell me… how can I become like you?"
Anthony's smile slowly fades. "You mean after what you saw that day, you still want to become a soldier? Not to rain on your dream, kid but there are a bunch of scarier monsters than Elon around, you know?"Anthony said with a very serious look. "And I don't just mean the bad guys." Pops frowns in understanding while Dom clenches his fists tightly.
"I know." Dom grumbled with his head now low and his eyes fixed on the ground. "From the story books and stories I hear, I know about the kind of monsters you all fight. But I… I didn't know how scary they really were until…"
Dom pauses as a shiver fills his body at the thought of Elon's sadistic smile. "I was so scared that my body wouldn't move. I thought I was going to die just by being around him."
"Dom." Pops mumbled softly as he stares at his ward with concern.
Dom takes another short pause before finally looking directly into Anthony's eyes. "But you weren't like that." Anthony raises a brow. "Even though you were like 10 times stronger than him, your mana didn't really scare me. It was like… Um…"
Dom looks around as to find the right words before noticing a bush nearby and remembers something. "Like your fire. Even though it was hot enough to burn that man or the trees, I didn't get burned."
Anthony smiles, impressed that Dom noticed it. "It was hot enough to burn everything… but to me, it was like being covered in a warm blanket." Dom looks at his hands. "It made me feel safe. Like nothing bad could touch me."
He closes those hands, forming tight fists. "In the end, you're all soldiers so I know that you're forced to … kill sometimes." Anthony nods in aggrement just as Dom smiles at him.
"But even though you have the power to kill anyone with just one spell, you also use that power to help good people. I want to be like that. A fire that can protect people but still fight the bad guys."
Another beat of silence fills the air and Dom finally notices how the grown-ups were looking at him. "Is… is that bad?" Dom asked as he looks around while Anthony grins widely.
"A fire that can simultaneously protect and fight, huh. You sound just like me when I started out in the army." Anthony chuckled before looking up at Pops. "You're a former soldier, right?"
Pops raises a brow. "How did you know?" Pops asked.
Anthony laughs as he stands. "You walk like one." Anthony commented as he dusts off his pants. "I may not know you but after hearing him, I can tell that you were a commanding officer. You trained a good soldier."
"It appears so." Pops said and the two share a smile which Dom didn't fully understand.
"So how can I become like you?" Dom asked again and Anthony smiles at him.
"If you're already thinking that way at this age, especially after seeing someone like that guy, then I think you're already on the right track." He rubs Dom's head before moving back. "Just keep it up and you'll be fine." He nods at Pops before walking towards his caravan.
"But how can I do that if I don't even have a magic affinity yet?" Dom asked and Anthony stops.
"You have no idea, do you? Of course not. There's no one to tell you." Anthony said, making both Dom and Pops confused. He then turns to them, revealing his amused grin. "In that case, I'll give you a hint."
He points at Dom. "The best power isn't always the most complicated. Sometimes, you just have to work with what you have." He continues towards the carriage.
"What does that mean?!" Dom asked and Anthony laughs as he opens the door.
"You're the one that said that you wanted to become the greatest general in history. Solving a little riddle like this shouldn't be too hard for you." Anthony chuckled before stepping into the carriage but still holds the door open to look at the confused figures. "Once you figure it out, you'll complete your first step."
Anthony finally closes the door and the scarred knight now acting as a coachman tugs on the reins, prompting the horse to begin moving. Anthony slides a window open and grins at Dom. "When you're ready to join the army, come join my division. I'll help get you to the top."
Tears water Dom's eyes but he wipes them and grins as he waves enthusiastically. "I will! I promise!" Anthony waves back before looking forward once the carriage picks up the pace with the escorts in tow.
"Why didn't you just tell him what his power was?" The coachman asked with a glance at the window behind him where he sees Anthony take out a bottle of alcohol from a suitcase.
"Because I've always wanted to sound like a wise old man like Jin for once." Anthony chuckled as he pops open the bottle before taking a huge gulp. He lowers the bottle and lets out a loud sigh due to the drink's bittersweet after taste.
"Besides… if his hair is already like that then he'd already manifested it. He was going to figure it out sooner or later."
"Still, I never thought I'd see one of them in a place like this." The coachman said and Anthony nods before taking another gulp. "Should we report this to the Capital?"
Anthony lowers his bottle with a burp. "Don't bother. You know how those guys get whenever they even hear about one. They'll eventually find out when he comes back to join the army. Let him have his fun for now."
"Do you really believe that boy's words?." The coachman asked and Anthony laughs.
"I'm surprised you can still say that after hearing him, Roy." Anthony said and Roy glanced at Anthony who stares at his bottle with an amused smile. "Those weren't the words of a child. It was the declaration of a soldier."
"If you say so." Roy said as he focuses back on the road and Anthony lowers his drink.
"The Next Emperor." Anthony said with his eyes closed as he recalls a certain mage from his past. "Dominic. I'll be waiting." He commented with eyes open as he takes another drink, relaxing as his caravan slowly heads back to the capital.