"Hah...hah..." The pants of a younger John King echoed through the charred battlefield before he crackled and sat down on the ground, "You...you are something different. What is your name?"

"I...possess no name..." The half-man half-monster he encountered on the plains of Voidlands said, his body barely held in place by sets of golden strings made of pure Wave from John, "I dwell...I consume...I survive..."

John knew the Voidlands were different from everywhere else in this world. It was a small pocket of region towards the Southern part of the Eastern continent, situating just to South of the Kingdom of Varous and East of the Ethereal Realm. It was a remnant location of the final battle for the War of the Third Millenium, and until this day, the devils that were stranded within the Voidlands still survived by ingesting everything in its paths.

Internationally, the Voidlands had been viewed essentially as a quarantined land, with vast shield Casts being activated on the country's borders to prevent any of the demons from escaping. In some circles, high bounties would be offered for the capture and hunting of demons, but beyond those that once dwelled in the underworld, nobody ever steps foot in the Voidlands.

During one of the terms at the Infinite Academy, long before John became the man he is today, he used the excuse of studying abroad to travel to head into the Voidlands, and it wasn't long in his journey when he encountered this half-man half-monster being. Except, the ratio of half and half might have been too generous.

He would have ignored it, if not for the unique and bizarre presence of the being in the Wave. Unlike the surviving demons that John had fought earlier, he felt different. He...was different. The human half of his was shivered up like dried tomatoes as the demonic half was all that kept everything running.

"How...did you end up like this?" John asked, "You are no ordinary devil, are you?"

"I am a demonic Manifest of his..." The demonic half said back, "I had been with him all this time."

"And you kept him alive?" John continued, his eyebrows rising, "Why?"

"It's not of your concern, human." The demonic half continued, "I do whatever I desire."

"Well...what about him?" John pointed to the shivered up human side, "What about what he wanted?"

"He's sick." The demonic half returned, "Weak, human body, and he will die at any moment if I am not here. I...I can't let him die..."

"Because you will disappear?"

"Because he saved me..." The demonic half replied, his voice slowly lowering. John watched its expressions before slowly nodding his head. He did not know of the story between the two halves of the same being, but he knew there were something that he could do for them, "Please...let me go, and I will save him..."

"No." John shook his head, instead creating lines of Casts around the body of the being, a version of a medical Cast that he had learnt recently during his visits to one of the medical research centers at Varous, "I will heal him."

"No!" The demonic half said sharply, his arms trying to break free from John’s bind, "NO!"

"...I see." John reached his hand up, "That sickness of his...it's you, isn't it?"

A light glowed around the body of the being, and sets of golden chains wrapped around the demonic half of the man before light and life were injected into the human side simultaneously. John had never seen cases when the Manifest was actively killing an individual, but considering Manifesters being the most volatile out of all of the classified Wave users, it wasn't exactly surprising.

When he examined the Wave within the being, John did take note of how closely intertwined the two halves were. Despite the fact that the presence of the demonic half was what kept the human half on the verge of life and death, it was also the reason that he was there in the first place.

What a brilliant puzzle for John to solve, and he would gladly solve it.

As the lights from his sets of Casts faded away, the shriveled human half seemed to have returned to its normal size, and the over-inflamed demonic side shrunk down to normal with the gold chains wrapped around his body. And at last, the man opened his eyes once again, the world once again coming into view.

"What...what is going on?" He asked, and John reached a hand to him, "Who am I...who are you...?

"Welcome back to the world. I am John King." John smiled, "And you...you may be known as Bez. Bez Aro."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Come with me to the Infinate Academy, and use your second chance in life to do what you desire, use your remarkable powers for good...

That was what John told Bez all those years ago. And that was also the last handful of memories of John before he became entangled with that stupid PORA shit...Bez thought, the demonic half integrating into his whole body more and more as pulses of energy filled the battlefield, pushing back against the yellow haze from Principal Khan's Cast. He breathed only through the demonic half of his, and that will mitigate any effects of the Essence Draining Cast.

He will win right here, and right now, then...he will bring back the old John, the same way he brought the old Bez back.

"He's coming!" Braka shouted, when Bez's dark figures emerged from the smoke and dashed right in front of him. His arms slashing through the air and leaving behind trails of darkness. Braka and Matty both moved forward, conjuring up blood blades and Manifested weapons, respectively, before parrying against Bez's attack.

"Perfect...synchrony...I am one with you..." Bez muttered the words as his presence in the Wave rapidly expanded from his body, pushing everything away even further as the sheer pressure from his existence started melting away Matty's own Manifests.

“And you are one with me.” The demonic side continued.

"Matty!" Braka called, as the Manifested swords in his hand started vibrating before it shattered. However, he wasn't able to do anything when Bez slashed Matty across the chest and kicked him back. Then, Bez turned his attention to him, the shading of the demonic half now wrapping around his body like a venomous armour before he threw a punch so fast that it punctured through Braka's body without him being able to react at all.

Feeling the excruciating pain from his stomach, Braka knew he had to halt the process of himself dying by using his ultimate Cast, "Blood Brink!"

Drawing on the power of his own blood, Braka slammed his hands down, hoping to bring Bez down along with him. However, the demonic eyes of the devil looked straight through his soul before Bez threw the skewered Braka aside as his body was bounced off the ground.

"NO!" Yuna's voice came from above, and she slammed down onto Bez's body in her King of the Jungle form. The Wave armour around her body barely holding together due to the pressure exerted by Bez himself.

"You are no match for me." Bez said, growling through the dark shadows of his demonic half which now covered the entirety of his body in black. More arms grew from his back, and he beat down onto Yuna with such ferocity that all she could do as a practitioner of the Surging Tiger is to run away with tails tucked between her legs, "Your strength is negligible."

Then, Bez pointed towards the severely injured Matty and Braka, "Then, you surround yourself with weaklings. All he does is dying, and that Manifester doesn't even have a stable Manifest!"

"Shut up!" Yuna shouted, a burst of speed coming seemingly out of nowhere. Fueled by the desperate anger, she pushed back on the pressure exerted by Bez as something within her started to slowly morph and shift, "SHUT UP!"

"Oh?" Bez tilted his head back, sensing the change within Yuna's body too. A shame...A hint of potential, wasted far too early.

Like countless others, Yuna had been stuck in front of the great wall that was and is the Dominance level.

"ARGHHH!" Yuna bounced from place to place, increasing her speed with every single ground contact before she slammed her fist into the body of Bez's. However, he caught her attacks with his arms before the spare arms he conjured up by the side of his body picked up Yuna's body and threw it onto the ground.

Holding on by her legs, Bez then pounded on her body with relentless attacks, hoping to break down Yuna's armour and finish the battle quickly.

"We...we need to help her..." Braka said, coughing out blood, "My...blood brink isn't going to hold on for much longer..."

"We need to help her..." Matty said, pressing himself up with greater difficulty than he thought. He had been ravaged by the single attack from Bez, and all of the protection Casts that he had stolen over the years were broken apart like paper, "But nothing we do was effective..."

"But she's out there fighting still!" Braka shouted, pushing himself up as his insides were hanging out of his body, "I...must...I must save her, even if I die..."

Matty looked around in the battlefield, and something caught his eye.

"No..." Matty shook his head before grabbing onto Braka's bloody hand, "Don't die. Just...buy me an opening."

"How...I am too slow to do anything else..." Braka said with frustrated tears, "I am going in and taking her place..."

"Not if you fight like she did." Matty said, squeezing Braka's arms, "She was able to match his speed in her King of the Jungle form!"

"I am not like you. I can't just copy what others do..." Braka said, looking confused into Matty's eyes, but he is dead serious.

"No. But like me, you have watched her fight over all these years." Matty said, and Braka opened his eyes wider and wider before finally nodding towards him, "Surpass your limits...right here, and right now."

Just like this... Matty thought, drawing his breathe in and feeling every pulse of the pains all over his body. Then, with his finger tips reaching over his wounds, he started drawing Cast lines onto his own body.

Braka watched him, and he understood what his plans are.

"Surpass our limits, yeah?" Braka smiled, crouching down as the shade of of a bloodied tiger imprinted onto the ground.

"Yeah!" Matty smiled, turning his wrist and running the Wave through the Blood Cast he just created over his body as Braka let out a roar and pounced forward.

"Blood Brink...King of the Jungle!" Braka let out a primal growl before hurrying to Yuna's aide.