Chapter 020:

Dominic’s hands stopped when the boy’s hood fell from his head, revealing his face. Seeing the obviously young skin blackened, bruised, and bloodied, a part of his consciousness he had long since killed prickled him.

‘Why…a kid…’ His thoughts, as disorganized as his feelings, attempted to rationalize the situation.

But when young Allen’s face overlapped with the kid’s, the anger in his heart reignited. He forcefully pulled the hood back down before continuing his assault.

He no longer cared for the fire which ravaged his home nor for the debris falling down on him. Revenge had its talons in him.

That was why he did not notice the new heat that sprouted to his side until it literally smashed against him in a blaze, pushing him off the kid.

“S-stop it!” A new voice, just as young as the first kid if not younger, spoke urgently to Dominic.

The crime boss raised his head and stood with ease, not hurt in the slightest. He fell into deeper contemplation as he saw two pink hoods standing next to each other. One, a girl, was in the lead as she held the other figure’s hand. The other, a boy, had his hand outstretched and steam was still seeping from it.

“Wisker user…More kids…why,”

“W-wait your henchme-'' But before Kiara could say more, Dominic’s screech interrupted her.

“Shut your fucking mouth up!” The currents of water surrounding him accelerated and he made his way toward them. “They are my family!”

………………………………………………..

‘Fuck I’m still alive,’ Alexander thought after he was awoken by Dominic’s angered scream. ‘You useless shit. You can’t even kill me properly,’ His mind was hazy and he could no longer think of anything more complex. An unexpected benefit of this was that Alexander could no longer afford the mental effort needed to contemplate his own shitty existence.

And thus he observed his surroundings passively.

“You don’t know anything about my family!” Dominic screamed as he drew close; he easily towered over Rafiel and Kiara.

“Calm down,” Kiara pleaded while Rafiel continued to warily watch the man with his arm still outstretched.

‘He wants to protect her,’ Alexander thought simplistically. Memories of his past continued to flood his mind; specifically of when he and Naamu were still young and desperate to survive.

‘They want to help me…I should,’ His hand, which he was pretty sure was broken, gripped the ground beneath him and he tried to sit up. Though dulled by exhaustion, the pain was still excruciating.

“Your people,” Rafiel said, trying to sound strong.

“I said shut up!” Dominic screamed again and approached the pair who scurried backward.

“You two keep saying Henchman this, people that, thugs or goons. They. Are. Family!” Dominic hurled a punch their way but Rafiel was quicker and a ball of fire pushed Dominic back.

Blood seeped from Alexander’s mouth as he continued his attempt to get up. Finally, the pair of siblings seemed to have noticed him and they immediately arrived by his side.

“Boss,” Rafiel sounded concerned while Kiara simply squeezed his arm.

Alexander felt more like a piece of shit than ever. ‘I got them involved in this…’ Guilt racked him.

‘We fought so hard to save our world. We fought so hard so that no one would ever have to be like us. Why am I tarnishing that wish?’

It was then that a gleam brought his attention to the floor at his side where a crude-looking dagger lay.

‘My time here wasn’t completely for naught,’ He recalled the face of an absurd youth who had the uncanny ability to piss him off. ‘And these two,’ he recalled their frightened eyes as they stood against the shelter owner.

Before he knew it, he had made connections, though they were a bit…odd. ‘There’s also that amusing little girl Erika and the princess and Ed and Grim…’

Laboriously picking the dagger from the ground, Alexander groaned as he faced Dominic down. ‘Fuck it, I’ll think about this later, for now, let’s get these kids out of here,’

“Hey, you…” He told Dominic.

“Fuck you!”

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“I’m sorry,” Alexander said with his head slightly bowed. He could feel everyone around him stiffen slightly in surprise. Come to think of it, weren't they being too lax here? The building was still burning down.

“What?” Dominic asked more to himself than to anyone else before erupting into crazed laughter.

“What’s wrong with him?” Rafiel asked in unease and Kiara who had been silent for a while whispered something into Alexander’s ear.

Alexander nodded before responding, “It’s a good plan, but unnecessary. This will be my last fight, so I might as well win it with style,” Leaving behind the bewildered pair of siblings, Alexander stood face-to-face with Dominic.

“I really am sorry you know,”

Instead of responding, the crime boss swung wild.

His body screaming at him to stop, Alexander barely dodged the simple attack and curled his fist up.

Dominic smirked with insanity in his eyes seeing this and even though it was too late to counterattack, he laughed derisively. ‘I can feel it, my Wisker is much stronger than before, I won’t even be pushed back by your strikes,’ He spoke madly to himself.

But soon his eyes widened as he heard what Alexander had said.

“280,” As if his words were a spell, the Wisker immediately dispelled itself, leaving Dominic vulnerable.

With that, the desperate struggle was brought to a close as the exhausted Dominic was finally knocked out by the even more exhausted Alexander.

Falling to his knees, the reformed hero was about to pass out before recalling an important matter. “The fire…”

“Boss, should we get him out of here?” Rafiel asked, pointing toward Dominic.

“We can put him in the basement, with the rest,” Kiara reminded, “That way they’ll be safe from the fire,” She said with exasperation as she looked toward Alexander as if blaming him.

“Raf..” Alexander finally interrupted between pants.

“What?”

“Give me your hand,”

The young man easily acquiesced despite being puzzled.

“Now activate your power and pay attention to what is about to happen,”

“O-okay?”

Alexander closed his eyes.

{Equipped title’s effect has been activated!}

{User Status-Sub Attributes: -Fire resistance: Unquantifiable, -Fire affinity: Unquantifiable}

Unlike when he used it against Clive, Alexander could see the fire elements more clearly for obvious reasons.

The change was almost imperceptible and normal citizens would simply shrug it off as a trick of the eyes. Infinitesimally small dots coated the flames around him, both tangible and intangible at the same time. These were the elements of fire.

Shifting his gaze over he saw several dots gathering around Rafiel’s hand as he activated his power.

“Ok, now pay attention,” he reminded Rafiel as he forcefully altered the dots’ movement.

What he was doing now would shock the world three times over as he directly altered the elements without the use of a magical circle. But to Alexander, who made fire his, this was a mere matter of course.

Slowly but surely the dots surrounding Rafiel’s hand started swirling around in the form of a whirlpool.

‘This should be enough,’ Alexander thought as he studied the swirling little dots that began to attract the surrounding dots from the flames burning away the bar.

………………………………………………..

Kiara and Rafiel were shocked silly by the sight before them. Even when their boss seemed to dispose of Dominic with one punch it was nothing compared to this.

With Alexander’s hand supporting Rafiel’s outstretched hand, a whirlpool of fire spun menacingly atop their palms.

If that wasn’t enough, the whirlpool actually began sucking the surrounding flames into itself.

Soon, all the flames which had been ravaging the bar were sucked into the vortex.

Kiara gasped as she was mesmerized by the fire which spun atop her brother’s palm but a shiver ran down her spine at the same time. She was sure that the remaining fire, though small in size, would incinerate her in mere seconds if she so much as touched it with the tip of her pinky.

Evidently, Rafiel was thinking the same thing as he shivered miserably while he studied the fire.

‘The flame seems different, more…concentrated and heavier, but also deeper,’ Rafiel thought to himself grimly as an insane thought crossed his mind. If he wanted to, he could let this thing loose and the building they were currently in would disappear entirely, along with everyone in it.

Goosebumps broke throughout his body as he pushed the violent thoughts down and cold fear was erected in its place.

“Get rid of it,” He said with that fear evident in his voice. He looked toward the only person who could possibly save him, his boss.

Flinch!

But his body flinched as he noticed that the boss was already looking at him with tired but firm eyes that seemed to be studying him.

“I don’t need to do anything,” Alexander spoke softly but with authority “It is your power, do with it as you wish,” Like a demon tempting him with sweet whispers, Alexander’s words penetrated the deepest depths of his mind.

Immediately he realised that this was a lesson. He had to deal with this by himself.

“O-okay,” Rafiel said with a gulp. But unlike his words, he stood still. He wanted to get rid of it but come to think about it, he never recalled one of his flames before so he was unsure of how to go about it.

In the half-burnt bar, three pink hooded figures stood nervously studying a breath-taking flame that slowly shrunk in size.

After what seemed like an eternity later, the three heaved sighs of relief as the flame finally twinkled out of existence.

Rafiel finally let the tension out of him as he fell on his ass in a cold sweat.

“That was terrifying,” Kiara muttered as she stared at Alexander in both exasperation and irritation.

Alexander looked at the pair before him before deciding once and for all.

‘Nammu, Earnest, the rest of you bastards…’ he thought as he stared upward toward the heavens. Briefly he wondered if the heavens of this world were different from his own but he shrugged such nonsensical thoughts off. Besides, he doubted whether his fellow heroes were really in heaven and not hell.

‘I’m going to take a bit of a break. I’m sorry and thank you,’