"Nathaniel, are you sure about this?"
Standing inside the house of Max, Nathaniel and Ash are standing beside each other. Surrounded by furniture and a few pieces of destroyed walls and ceiling.
"To be able to stand against him, I must have full control of my abilities at least one."
"Your answer lies in your enemy's abilities. If you think fire is indestructible, well, that's a useless statement."
Ash generates a fireball on his right palm with Nathaniel watching it.
"Fire is a destructive element and controlling it at its full capacity will only lead you to lose control. Especially, if you don't have what it takes to manipulate it at full percent." Ash crushed the fireball with his bare hand.
Ash explains to Nathaniel, being aware of the risks that Nathaniel might have upon using this power that both of them are talking about.
"If you use your fire at full percentage, be warned that you might lose yourself. In this state, you will not be able to talk with anyone from your personas."
With both men staring at one another on a huge empty field surrounded by tall stalks of grass, and some trees. Nathaniel summons his sword with one snap of his fingers and that makes Ash do the same.
"This will be a solo practice between us."
"I accept this training without holding any grudge of anger or sadness."
Nathaniel flies toward Ash by releasing fire from his feet, and that brings Nathaniel to strike Ash with his sword but Ash defends himself by using his sword; striking Nathaniel's sword away.
The fight continues, and Ash has pushed Nathaniel only with a push of his sword; sending Nathaniel towards the sky.
"Your swordsmanship has improved but we're facing the matter of your fire mastery which remains dull."
"Dull?! I defeated Fang during our first face-off!" Nathaniel landed on the ground, "I used fire!"
Ash swings his sword and summons a ring of fire around them.
Nathaniel looks around him, shocked by the flames surrounding them. He looks back at Ash and a fireball is heading straight to Nathaniel's face.
As usual, Nathaniel cuts the fireball in half but it stops moving before he cuts it, and Nathaniel lowers his sword while inspecting it.
"What?" Nathaniel arched his eyebrow but the fireball exploded.
The explosion pushes him backward, and his body almost touches the wall of fire.
Ash continues to look at him, and Ash doesn't behold any anger in his eyes but disappointment.
"You call yourself a good fire user? You can't even manipulate a fireball." Ash's body got covered in fire and he disappeared along with the fire coating his body.
Ash slips out from the wall of fire behind Nathaniel and before he can react, Ash kicks Nathaniel's face.
Ash steps from side to side to avoid every sword slash from Nathaniel. Ash constructs a fireball, and fires it through his fingertips, hitting Nathaniel and sending him flying away.
He lands on the ground with sweat dripping from his forehead, and in Ash's eyes, he sees Nathaniel as someone from the past.
"Is that all you got to offer? Pathetic. Come on, use all your power."
Ash's words resulted in Nathaniel feeling a spark in his heart. He generates fire onto his palms, molding it into a sphere, and he throws it immediately toward Ash.
Ash stops the fireball from moving and Nathaniel's eyes grow wide while staring at what occurred.
Ash manipulates the fireball, destroying it. He summons fireballs around Nathaniel with the ring of fire remaining around them.
"This is my challenge for you," Ash said, "I want you to manipulate the fireballs around us, stop their movement and protect yourself."
Nathaniel avoids the fireballs, and some strikes his back, and his chest, and worst is getting hit on his face.
Nathaniel's eyes widen as he gets an idea, preferably, an understanding of his state and how he'll overcome it.
"I get it." he took a deep breath.
Nathaniel steps side to side away from the fireball's direction. He looks up and delivers a flaming slash with the swing of his sword, destroying the incoming fireballs.
"S*it! I haven't thought of doing this sooner."
Seeing what Nathaniel did, Ash shakes his head. "That was good but also not what I intend for you to do. Nathaniel, you need to control the movement of your fire constructs."
Ash jumps away from Nathaniel, and using the walls of the ring of fire: Ash forms a flat sphere, and from it, he releases a fire spear down at Nathaniel.
He can feel the intensity of the flames around him but he doesn't see the spear falling toward him, ready to kill him. It didn't take Nathaniel any more minutes to look up and witness the spear.
Before hitting him, the spear stops moving. Nathaniel's eyes widen, and he turns his eyes to the man standing in front of him. "I can control it... the flames."
With one movement of his finger, Nathaniel throws the spear to the sky. Ash feels a smile crawl on his lip, and he bobs his head before speaking, "Since you've learned how to manipulate fire's movements, I will now teach you how to create your construct using fire."
Inside Max's house, Anna is crouching in front of the fence where the ten dogs are together. She counts all of them by pointing her fingers at each one of them, and her eyes widen.
"I must tell him!" she looked around her, "But where is he?"
She hears footsteps coming closer to her making her look at it, and she sees Nathaniel walking towards her while looking calmly at her.
"Is everything good?" he stopped walking near her.
Anna looks at the dogs whose eyes are staring at her with their tail raised, and she looks back at him. "There is one missing dog, and I don't know where it went. This is bad, what if that dog got taken away by those monsters?"
Her words cause Nathaniel's heart to beat faster. Of course, he would feel anxious because he gave Max his words for keeping his dogs safe.
"Then, that means, you have to settle here while I go find Max in Fang's lair," he pushed himself back to his feet. Nathaniel is wearing a determined expression on his face, and he knows what might happen to him but he is ready to face it.
Anna shakes her head while narrowing her eyes at him. "I must come with you. Fang is not an easy opponent that you can just burn easily! He is a total predator! Able to exert such strength, speed, and a killing intent that is endless."
Nathaniel chuckles and with a swing of his hand, he summons his sword in a dark sheath with three fireball tattoos.
He hangs the sheathe on his belt. "Anna, promise me that you will look for the lost dog, and please, keep those dogs safe."
She groans and stands up. "No! I will come with you!"
"The dogs need you," Nathaniel told her, "you must stay here! Settle with them only for the time that I am finding Max."
Anna doesn't want to let Nathaniel embark all alone on this mission. For her, if he dies, she will lose an ally, and carry the burden of his death upon her shoulders.
"Being with you for a short matter of time, I was happy that I had an ally like you," Anna smiled softly before she chuckled, "I don't trust you in this mission but your determination made me loosen my decision on not allowing you to go alone."
Nathaniel's eyes crinkle as he smiles softly, and suddenly, he feels the sensation of an object resting on his shoulder.
He opens his eyes and sees Anna's emerald eyes staring straight into his brown eyes.
"Promise me one thing, Nathaniel."
"What is it?"
"You'll come back in one piece with Max."
In a massive place with stone walls, ceiling, and ground with few structures made of stones to be seen everywhere.
A tear occurs in the space above the wolf humanoids below, and that rip in the space turns into a round portal.
A person covered in flames falls, and when it hits the ground: it causes a massive explosion with its flames incinerating the humanoids completely.
From another part in the same place, a tall half-naked muscular man stands up from the stone throne. "That feeling! Ah! I remember it was the same insect who defeated me."
He glances at the other humanoids standing around his place, raising his fingers at the round entrance, all humanoid wolves around him snarl while sprinting towards the entrance.
"Keep him entertained as I keep myself entertained with my precious 'bait'." he turned around at the sight of a half-naked old man.
His wrists are chained to the ceiling. His exposed upper body has scratches, bruises, and three cuts on his waist.
His eyes are closed as his head is lowered down. His condition gives the muscular man a wide smile on his face.
Meanwhile, in a large hallway, Nathaniel is sprinting while glaring. "Fang! I'll get you! When I do! I will kill you."
Near the stone throne, a trembling dog with brown fur is staring at the old man. His eyes are twinkling but not from joy, and he whimpers a bit.
Fang heard the whimper, and he turned around but saw nothing but the few stone structures and tone pillars.