The sun was still shining and scattering its rays across the landscape, sending a comfortable and warming sensation into the people's hearts.
Yet, it wasn't enough to break reality. The entire crew, or in other words, the people inside the carriage fell on the ground in the middle of a grass field after the carriage was completely shattered and demolished. Their bodies were scattered and dispersed over a wide area, making the standing survivors try to look for each other for a chance of union and survival.
When Flugel looked around for his other companions after standing up from the grass, he saw a familiar face.
"I have underestimated you, kid." Said a familiar voice from a distance. It was none other than Remenis himself.
Flugel stepped back in shock because of what the heck he was seeing.
"You.. you died! How are you alive?!"
Remenis laughed and stepped one step after step towards Flugel.
"Flames... you thought a mere fire would eat ME?! I'm the savior of all laborers! The pure representation of absolute dedication and..."
Remenis accumulated flames to form a little fire ball inside of his fist and went on to throw it towards Flugel and added:
"Wielder of the authority of Ignis!"
Flugel jumped to the left to dodge the ball of flames. His dodge was pretty successful as he had seen no damage on his body whatsoever.
Flugel was tensed and anxious, yet full of rage towards Remenis, the very same person who killed his brother, and almost did the same to his mother.
Flugel tried clearing his mind from all thoughts to focus entirely on his fight. But, the memory of seeing his brother melt and being crushed under wood and rocks.
Flugel was about to lose his composure at any given moment. All he could remember was that agonizing reminiscence.
But only then, he remembered.
*****
The sun was bright and mesmerizing to the human eye, warming the cold and leading the lost.
Willinham and Flugel were training at their usual spot in the forest. Flugel kept trying to strike Willinham over and over again, yet seemed unable to land even one hit.
Willinham giggled a little and said:
"What's wrong? Not even one hit?"
Flugel gasped for air while saying:
"I- I don't know?! Every strike I send gets blocked by your elbow or hand or something!"
Willinham grinned and said:
"Because you are..."
Willinham grabbed Flugel's arm and knocked him down in a moment.
"...too predictable."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that you let your emotions take control of your movements. Which in itself isn't that bad, but I personally vote against it."
"---"
"Clearing your mind from thoughts, focusing on one singular objective. That's the spirit of a fight, in my opinion."
"Well, how can I empty my mind?"
Willinham looked a little nervous trying to answer the simple question and answered:
"Well, um- um- uhh.. figure it out yourself."
Flugel was kind of disappointed and said:
"You're a horrible teacher.."
Willinham got offended.
"I'm doing this for free, you know?!"
*****
"I see. Thank you, Willinham." Is the thought that occurred in Flugel's mind. Those simple memories answered his doubts. Although "clearing his mind" from such traumatic memories isn't as simple as it sounds like, trying is not going to cost him anything.
Flugel took a deep breath, inhaled, and then exhaled. He stood up off of the grass and faced Remenis and then said with a loud and clear voice:
"Remenis, what is your goal here?"
Remenis was taken a back a little by the sudden question, but weirdly enough, he was willing to answer.
"Collect toys for games, and make enough money to kill those spoons up in the Royal Palace."
Flugel was weirded out because he thought Remenis was from the Palace as well as he had announced before in the village, he guessed it was to tempt the villagers into joining his side due to the main stream thought of escaping the Filth Realm.
Flugel rubbed it off and replied:
"I, Flugel Spes, will avenge my brother, Ren, and put your head in the center of the village for people to remember."
Remenis grinned and answered in a serious tone:
"So be it, i won't hold back on you anymore."
A blinding flare ignited on Flugel's forearm, shaping into a blade, a scythe of pure light. The energy flowing through his veins could be felt like blood, but it also felt like it was humming, humming with energy. As he closed his grip, the scythe solidified, casting small shadows around him, although it was in broad daylight.
*****
Drowning, falling, eaten. That's what Remenis felt as he was being thrown into the flames by Flugel. He yelled and insulted Flugel just to get a reaction out of him, but it was too late.
His voice was overpowered by the sounds of the flames eating everything around it. Not to mention the penetrating wound in the middle of his stomach, making him bleed to death. He laid on the burning grass, welcoming death with open arms.
He closed his eyes and waited for death to take his soul. Memories flashed before his very eyes as his consciousness faded partly each second that had passed.
"You'll free us, right, Remenis?"
A reminiscence or a hoax, it didn't matter. He could hear someone whispering the previous sentence in his ear.
He quickly opened his eyes and looked around to find the source of it, yet he only found himself surrounded by flames.
He quickly sat up and started palpating himself and self-examining to see why the heck wasn't he already dead.
His suit had already ignited, leaving burns and pieces of the suit's fabric torn off.
He started hacking and splattering due to the smoke coming from the flames, so he got on all fours and crawled out of the flames.
When he finally got out of the flames, he laid on the grass due to his body running out of energy.
He looked down at his body and saw no burns, only the injury in the middle of his abdomen.
"What the heck?"
Remenis wondered and questioned how the heck his skin hadn't burnt due to the extreme heat.
He put his hand on his wound, and when he looked at it again, he realized it was soaked in his own blood.
He knew he didn't have much time left, so he wanted to use the lifetime he had left as much as possible.
A servant approached him and started yelling:
"Master?! Are you alright?!"
Remenis faced the servant with a neutral expression. The latter indicated he was thinking of something.
Remenis stood off the ground and walked slowly towards the servant.
The servant felt an unsettling sensation as he sensed an approaching danger and threat.
The servant nervously said:
"M-master, what are you-"
Remenis seized his face, fingers pressing hard into his jaw, gripping with a muzzle grip.
The servant resisted by trying to kick Remenis and grabbing onto the hands that were covering his face. But all his efforts were meaningless with absolutely no results.
With a savage motion, Remenis lifted the servant off the ground before flinging him into the flames.
The servant yelled as he fell on the burning grass, the flames started eating his clothes, and then his flesh.
He yelled in pain and agony as the smokes filled his lungs, making him splatter uncontrollably.
The scene of the agonizing torture that the servant was experiencing made Remenis conclude that:
"I... I'M IMMUNE!"
In a state of mixed shock and joy, Remenis started scouring and frantically searching for the very same person that threw him to his supposed death.
There it was. The same VLV that came from Flugel earlier could be sensed from the direction Remenis was facing.
Remenis started running like his life depended on it. His legs burned with each step and stride. His only objective was to make the one who dared to kill him suffer the taste of death.
Through the tall grass, through the bushes and the trees, no obstacle stopped Remenis in his tracks or slowed him down from reaching his destination, even though it meant leaving his servants behind.
Servants in each corner of his eyes, terrorizing the village and sealing the villagers. The attack never stopped, not even for a mere second.
After around a minute of sprinting like an animal, he finally found it, he saw a carriage moving through tall grass, at first it seemed bizzare to him because a horse carriage like that should move on a mapped path, not the grass.
It was obviously the villagers' desperate plan of escaping. He immediately opened his hand and faced it towards the carriage.
It seemed like he was going to shoot something out of his hand.
"Reaving.."
With a strong pulse, energy flowed through Remenis' veins, synchronized and organized like a melody of some sorts. A scarlet beam penetrated through the air and wind, like a meteor coming from the sky ready to demolish the earth.
"SUUUNNN!"
Unlike Willinham's or Flugel's techniques, this one didn't seem to consume a lot of Remenis' VLV.
The incoming brightness the crew saw earlier was the beam itself. The beam wrecked and demolished the carriage, and what happened earlier had happened.
*****
Flugel looked at Remenis, examining him and watching his every move in case of any sudden movement.
In a flash of an eye, Remenis disappeared. Flugel's eyes kept spinning and spinning looking for Remenis, he then realized Remenis' constant rapid movement left a trace in the air, like a disturbance in space, space was warped with each move Remenis made.
Flugel sensed a presence behind him. He turned around only to find Remenis about to stomp his face. Flugel quickly parried the attack and countered it with his scythe.
In a quick move, after Flugel's counter had failed hitting Remenis, the latter slashed a blow of flames towards Flugel.
Flugel weaved and dodged the attack entirely, then grabbed onto Remenis' leg and pulled him towards the ground.
With a powerful force, Remenis was thrown against the dirty ground on his back, making him gasp in pain.
Flugel dared to stomp on Remenis' stomach, but the latter quickly stood up, and while so, his fist rocketed upwards, knuckles driving into the underside of Flugel's jaw. The force sent him back a few steps and made him close his eyes in pain caused by the unexpected assault. Then, he tried to recover his focus once again.
Before he could fully open his eyes, Remenis lashed him and then went into a series of pummeling.
Each fist that was sent had more force and power than the previous one, like a never-ending cycle of fists.
Remenis grinned with a prideful expression and said:
"Whaaat, can you DODGE AGAIN?!"
Flugel started weaving to evade the incoming blows and then went on to do a hook targeting the ribs.
Fortunately, the hook was successful and damaged Remenis' ribs. The attack forced Remenis to jump back and create distance between the two of them.
The two calmed down and stood facing each other yet a distance separating them.
Remenis looked at Flugel with a narcissistic and vainglorious look. As if it was merely to piss Flugel off, but maybe Remenis was just like that.
For now, Remenis seemed to be an egoistic maniac, obsessed with his so-called "dedication" or "blue tie job" which are very unfamiliar concepts to Flugel.
Remenis started walking to the left in a straight line, and so did Flugel, even though he didn't know why.
Remenis yelled:
"Your dirty little plan was quite successful."
Flugel was puzzled.
"Well, your plan will be demolished by my own hands, you fool."
"Quite successful to me, as you see."
Remenis put his hand on the wrist of the other, and in a moment, VLV flowed through his veins, and a beam completely consumed his hand.
Flugel was absolutely bewildered due to why the heck would he attack himself.
After the beam's light had grown dim and faded, Flugel realized Remenis' hand was still intact.
Remenis then went into an episode of shouting complete nonsense.
"YOU SEE, FLUGEL! Thanks to you! Yes, YOU! I could have NEVER found out about this if it wasn't for you!"
Flugel then accumulated his VLV in the hand that wasn't holding his scythe, or in other words, his left hand. Only to form some sort of ball or sphere of pure light and then shoot it towards Remenis.
Remenis unexpectedly didn't try to dodge the attack. In fact, he absolutely endured it with his body, although it left a small burn on his face.
Flugel was perplexed.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't you see? Well, what did I expect from an unwashed swine like you."
Flugel pondered for a few seconds. What does any of what happened even mean? That's the question that soaked his mind in perplexity and confusion.
He was absolutely sure that he had thrown Remenis into the flames to be engulfed by the latter.
Remenis seemed completely uninjured, with merely the penetrating wound that was caused by Flugel standing out and bleeding like a waterfall.
Flugel finally understood what happened, the mistake he had done, he made an insane maniac discover a monstrous ability that not even a sane person could be trusted with, who knows what Remenis would do with that ability, in what way he could abuse it.
Flames coiled around Remenis' palms, and with a strong thrust of his arm, fire balls started shooting like comets out of the sky, leaving a trail of embers on the grass separating them.
Flugel sprinted towards Remenis, weaving through the fireballs as he got closer and closer.
With a sharp thrust, Remenis slashed the air, forming a forceful blow of flames towards Flugel. As the blow was unexpected, Flugel was forced to endure and absorb the hit.
Remenis yelled:
"Your pitiful dodges won't last you baseborn WRENCH!"
Flugel shouted in reply:
"I'm not going to die to a rat, LIKE YOU!"
Flugel gasped for air as the blow hit his torso, but it wasn't enough to stop him in his tracks.
Flugel ran and absorbed the hits until he reached Remenis' face.
With a swift motion, Flugel swiped his scythe across Remenis' face, the sharp blade cutting through the skin and flesh, unleashing a flood of blood.
Remenis tried to lean backward, but his dodge was unsuccessful. In response, Remenis reacted to the attack by launching a fire ball, which was interrupted by Flugel sweeping him, resulting in Remenis' legs being knocked out and losing balance, making him fall on the grass.
As Flugel got a bit carried away and prideful due to the successful attack, Remenis once again accumulated and coiled flames in his hand and launched it straight onto Flugel's abdominals.
Remenis said:
"For a mud-grubber, you have qualifications for a warrior, but of course..."
Remenis twisted mid-fall before hitting the ground, landing on all fours with a thud, fingers splayed against the dirt like a raging cat.
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"...not quite compatible to keep up with the immense power of the savior of all laborers."
He jumped off the ground and immediately started pummeling Flugel with rapid fists.
Remenis smirked and chuckled as he kept sending fists filled with force and rage towards Flugel's face and body.
"Fight back, wrench!"
Flugel tried weaving and dodging every attack, yet seemed unsuccessful to avoid most of them, damaging his torso and ribs even more than before.
Flugel tried to ignore the immense pain flowing through his veins. Wounds and cuts covered his entire body like a war survivor. Blood and sweat falling down his hands and skin, watching a child like him fight to death was such an unpleasant and disgusting scenery, fortunately none of the crew of the destroyed carriage were conscious as they had lost it due to the impact from earlier.
Flugel glared at him and yelled:
"I will-"
With an immensely strong force, filled with egoism and pride coming from Remenis, one last punch in the the face was about to come in contact with Flugel, it seemed like this was the finishing move, the final showdown.
Flugel finally found an open passage to fight back. Through the endless chain of pummeling that was being sent by Remenis, an open way to assault Remenis was found.
Flugel deflected the final punch by Remenis with his scythe, making Remenis' hand get cut through the blade as it ripped its skin and flesh.
By deflecting the attack, Remenis was pushed a little bit backward and lifted off the ground for a mere moment, a moment of vulnerability, just enough for him to absolutely destroy Remenis.
Flugel immediately abused his chance with a smirk on his face. With a strong and sharp move, he swayed his arm upwards, his legs acting a spring, adding even more force to the attack, twisting his hips for even more momentum, contributing even larger force.
As his scythe was about to absolutely penetrate through Remenis' head to end him once and for all, Remenis was able to completely stop it by pushing it away with a fierce and powerful blow of flames. Fortunately, the flames didn't have much effect or damage on Flugel's hand.
Flugel was devastated as his one chance of ever winning was demolished, destroyed, and turned to ashes. But only then, he had realized, Remenis was absolutely filled with pride to the point that he was completely blind to the most obvious counterattack.
Flugel abused and took advantage of the closest limb of his to Remenis, his left hand.
With a vigorous fist, and a humongous amount of VLV infused within it, Flugel was able to land his knuckles through Remenis' cheek, sending an episode of pain to Remenis' brain as the powerful impact lifted him off the ground for a mere moment.
Flugel then yelled with a voice filled with desperation and terror:
"I WILL... END YOU!"
The next moment, Flugel went on to start pummeling Remenis, just like the latter had done before to him. Each fist and blow was accompanied with despair and torment, each next fist even more powerful and fierce than the one before it.
Fists flew in a blur, each punch landing with a jaw-crushing force, Flugel didn't even stop for a mere moment-- just kept swinging, hammering Remenis down like a merciless storm.
Remenis tried to say while each letter that came out of his mouth was interrupted by a merciless punch:
"H-eh y-you-"
Flugel yelled, filled with despair:
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Each fist pushed Remenis back a step and caused a new bruise each time it landed. Remenis couldn't take it any longer.
Each hit was filled with determination and determination to protect his dear mother.
With a rapid and powerful thrust, Remenis drove his palm against one of Flugel's fists, causing it to stop in its track-- a small cloud of dust surrounded the two from the impact.
Their hands reeked of blood and sweat, their palms pushed each other towards the other, their forces were almost equal as they tried using their shoulders and legs as springs to add more force.
Remenis tilted his head slightly, like he was amused by this, a grin too big stretching his face unnaturally, probably due to the inhuman shape of his mouth.
Remenis said is a low and giggling voice:
"You're already tired, aren't you?! You unwashed rabble!"
Flugel yelled in response:
"Look at you, wrapped in fine cloth like a pig dressed for feast day!"
Remenis questioned with a shocked expression:
"Pig?..."
After a mere moment, his expression transformed into a raging one. He bared his teeth and yelled:
"PIG?!"
Suddenly, Remenis' VLV rose by the second, as if he was stealing energy from the world. It seemed like Flugel had hit a nerve with that insult.
With a heavy and fierce push, Remenis was able to force Flugel to jump back a few feet away from him.
Flugel spit and said:
"For a rat, you're quite resilient."
Remenis started groaning and breathing heavily. After that moment, VLV accumulated in Remenis' hands as if it was floating around them. Flames twisted against each other and moved around as if they followed every order that Remenis made.
Remenis shouted:
"Embers of the inferno... flames of this shameful world..."
The flames finally united and began to take shape around his hands until they finally took the shape of gloves, although gauntlets would be a more appropriate name due to their armor-like structure.
Remenis punched his hands together with a fierce blow and went on to add:
"Claws of Ignis!"
The gauntlets were shaped into the fearsome claws of a dragon. Each finger tapered into a talon of searing fire, flickering and shifting with every movement, as though barely controlled by Remenis, making it unsustainable and merely usable for a temporary period of time.
Flugel stood still, not a muscle moved as his eyes watched Remenis slowly approach him with rage in his eyes.
Flugel raised his hand with a smooth motion and pointed his scythe towards Remenis.
"Come at me." Flugel said with an arrogant tone. Even though that attitude collided and rejected Willinham's idea of a fight spirit, it seemed Flugel just didn't care any longer.
In a blink of an eye, Remenis vanished and faded from thin air, leaving no trace behind.
Bewildered, Flugel scanned the landscape that was visible in his eyesight, his heart pounding with each stare.
Only then, Remenis' VLV could be felt and sensed from his right side. In the corner of his eye, Remenis' silhouette revealed itself with an intimidating presence.
Panicked, he immediately drew his scythe in front of his face, resulting in it clashing with Remenis' gauntlets.
Remenis yelled:
"I am the hope of the Modesty Realm workers! Each one of them gave their hopes and dreams TO ME!"
Remenis swung his arm back and, with a formidable force, drove his arm towards Flugel's guts, shoving them into the latter like a piercing drill.
Flugel gasped for air as his guts were crushed and destroyed, blood gushed out of his mouth, yet he refused to budge and endured the hit.
His body was trembling in pain and agony, coughing blood with every move he made, but he was determined to defeat Remenis.
As he was about to thrust and drive his scythe towards Remenis' exposed arm, he felt a spark unleash from Remenis' gauntlet.
"Die." Remenis said with a low, unclear voice.
After a moment, a sickening sensation possessed Flugel's body, burning his limbs with pain. He could feel his own blood rise up his throat as he stepped back in defense.
He raised his hand, meaning to unleash a penetrating light beam as a last stand attack in hopes of something to happen, but was immediately interrupted by Remenis grabbing him by his tunic with his gauntlets.
The heat coming from the gauntlets caused Flugel to twitch and flinch as it burned his skin.
"What- did you do?" Flugel painfully said.
"I merely sent a wave of VLV to your bloodstream. it seems your peasant body can't handle it." Remenis answered with an arrogant voice.
Remenis went on to add:
"BEGONE!"
With a piercing and formidable blow toward Flugel's guts, Remenis sent Flugel floating and flying off the ground in a ragdoll-like state, folded in half as if the punch itself was still present in his gut.
That wasn't enough to satisfy Remenis' greed. He crouched low, muscles coiling like springs, then exploded upward in a powerful leap, souring through the air.
As he approached Flugel mid-air, he squeezed his hands together, drove them back above his head, and then with a fierce force he shoved his hands into Flugel's body sending him flying down back to the ground.
Flugel was fighting, losing consciousness every second that passed. The only sensation he was feeling at that point was pain.
Each blow that hit Flugel made him realize he maybe wasn't meant to win. Maybe he wasn't built for this.
When Flugel finally reached the ground, the impact caused a cloud of dust and dirt to emerge and expand around him. The ground shook as a giant hole developed due to the power of the impact.
Flugel just laid there, the sky in front of his eyes. The sun rays hit him directly in his eyes but couldn't even cover them as his arms felt paralyzed.
"Well, well, aren't you going to kill me?" Remenis said as he approached the hole Flugel caused.
Flugel said in response:
"I'll... kill you..."
Remenis frowned as he said:
"What a shame, I thought you'd be much more fun."
Only then, a villainous idea revealed itself in Remenis' mind. It seemed that Remenis really wanted to keep fighting Flugel.
Remenis turned his head and took a step, walking away from pithole that Flugel was in.
"Oh, well... I guess I can kill those people over there now." He yelled.
For a moment, he hadn't heard or felt any response from Flugel. Disappointed, he walked away, ready to slaughter those villagers.
It seemed that, Flugel, was dead.
As Remenis was walking towards the villagers, he kept turning and checking if Flugel was going to attack him to any moment, yet he was hit with the reality that he was dead.
He sighed and continued walking his path. Each step he had taken was filled with disappointment as he had high hopes for Flugel. For the first time, he had actually found someone who kept up with him in a fight.
"Keep your hands--"
A voice filled with despair and rage could be heard behind his ear. A wide grin emerged on his face as he turned around to face the source of the voice.
Remenis yelled:
"YOU BRAT!"
"--OFF MY PEOPLE YOU BASTARD!"
With a vigorous thrust, Flugel landed his knuckles through Remenis' cheeks. The hit was infused with so much VLV that Remenis had to abandon his gauntlets and return to using basic blows of flames.
Remenis stepped back a little, yet before he could ever react or counter, Flugel started pummeling him, each fist filled with a greater amount of VLV than the one before it, hammering down Remenis.
Flugel yelled:
"You go to my village, kidnap my people, and--"
Remenis interrupted him.
"Look for toys!"
Flugel added:
"--Kill my brother, YOU BASTARD! I will rip that smile off of your face!"
As fists landed on Remenis' face like bullets, Flugel even went on to jab Remenis with his knee, sending a deep sensation of agony to Remenis' lower body.
Flugel started shouting and yelling like a maniac, which was understandable due to his state of mind and body.
"I'll make you pay! I'll rip your limbs off and shove them in your mouth!"
Flugel quickly shaped and formed his dear new weapon, his scythe, and immediately drove it towards Remenis' torso, slashing it diagonally, cutting through his flesh and skin.
Remenis shouted:
"You dare rip my skin off?!"
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK!"
Flugel seemed to despise each word that came out of Remenis' mouth, which was completely fair and understandable, considering that man had slaughtered his brother.
In a mere moment, VLV could be felt accumulating and manifesting in Flugel's hand-- the brightness inside rising with a constant rate.
In that very same moment, Remenis noticed what Flugel was about to do. He immediately realized it was another unexpected ball of light about to be shot onto his torso.
Yet, he was absolutely mistaken. The light coming from Flugel's scythe was growing dim and less bright each millisecond like it was dying.
Remenis was caught off guard as his eyes twitched in confusion and fear of what was about to happen.
For a final hit, Flugel's scythe had completed faded out from existence, but merely seconds later, light accumulated and took the shape of brass knuckles.
Flugel's chest heaved, his entire body trembled in pain, he then screamed:
"Leave my people.."
Flugel used his legs as a spring and his shoulders as an engine, adding even more force to the upcoming attack.
With a sharp and fierce swing, Flugel's fist drove into Remenis' gut, precisely into his wound, like a sledgehammer, folding him in half with a guttural gasp. Spit flew from his lips as staggered. The impact was strong and forceful enough to lift Remenis' of the ground-- sending him into the air while folded like a doll.
Flugel went on to add with a cracking voice:
"ALONE!"
As Remenis flew through the air, wind humming in his ears, his body trembling in agony as he denied accepting the fact that he was going to lose.
When the momentum finally disappeared, he started falling to the ground like a comet, Remenis stayed still like a doll with absolutely no expression on his face, as if he was already dead.
Flugel stood there, watching the very same person who killed his dear brother falling to his death.
After a few moments, Remenis reached the dirty grass ground, as the impact caused a cloud of dirt and dust to enlarge and expand by the second.
The sound of the impact was painful and disturbing to the ear, as Flugel covered his ears.
Flugel had, in fact, won.
Flugel thought for a moment and realized he wasn't risking or taking a chance of letting Remenis go and escape. He kicked his leg back and started sprinting with a strong swift towards where Remenis had fallen.
Running through the tall grass, pushing it out of his face with his hand to clear the path. The next moments were awfully silent as he wondered what was Remenis doing.
The very next moment, Flugel watched as the grass in front of him caught in flames, like a storm of inferno.
His eyes widened, and he had bit his lip as his skin became pale and trembled in anxiety and fear.
When he had finally reached the location where the inferno started. In front of his very eyes was Remenis, gasping for air, skin covered in blood, bruises, and wounds, and absolutely showered in sweat.
Remenis said with a cracked voice:
"You.. I've had enough of you, you dirty little peasant."
With a quick swift, Remenis thrust his palm outward, flames emerged from his hand in a violent rush, waves of flames twisted against eachother as they shot to the side, although Flugel was confused on why would he do that instead of shooting him instead.
That's when Flugel decided to turn his head to face the direction Remenis was shooting it, only then his heart sank.
In the way of the roaring flames, was Flugel's own mother, unconscious, and in the most miserable and horrifying state a human could be in.
Flugel's voice failed him as his vocal cords seemed to stop working, most likely due to the high intense pain that was overpowering the said vocal cords.
His mind told him to kill Remenis immediately, but his natural instinct and heart told him to run and run for his mother.
He swung his legs like never before, his feet jumping like a spring each step, yet his efforts were meaningless.
As the raging inferno was about an inch away from burning Flugel's mother to crisp and ashes, a figure emerged from the tall grass.
As the light coming from the inferno hit the figure, it revealed a familiar person.
It was none other than Herkil himself, his face soaked in his own blood that was falling and dripping down his forehead.
Herkil took a step, and with a courageous stand and an unshakable smile, he stood in the way of the merciless inferno.
As Herkil stood his ground, he noticed Flugel in the corner of his eyesight. The next moment, he yelled:
"FLUGEL, LIV-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the roaring flames devoured and annihilated his body. The watchers outside could see pieces of his skin turning into embers and his body deforming from his head to his toes. Fire curled around his body like vengeful serpents.
After a few moments of the dead silence with merely the sound of the fierce inferno devouring Herkil, the said inferno had claimed its final breath, and slowly calmed down and faded as Remenis slowly put his hand down.
After the flames had completely disappeared, what remained was barely human. Charred flesh clung to blackened bone, the body twisted in agony and froze in its final moments. Smoke still curling from the remains, the scent of burst meat thick in the air.
Remenis' eyes watched what had happened, and Remenis only had to say:
"Ech.. what's wrong with that pig?"
Flugel was frozen in place and couldn't even look away. His stomach twisted in nausea, and the smell of the burning flesh colonized his nose. Embers in air made every breath feel like swallowing ash.
A scream was built in his chest, but no sound was heard, only thick and suffocation silence.
Flugel forgot about everything. He didn't care about his mother. He didn't care about his brother. He didn't care about anyone. He only wanted Remenis yelling in agony as he died.
Flugel bared his teeth, a guttural growl escaping through clenched jaws, his entire body coiled with barely restrained fury.
Flugel had snapped.
Remenis said with a sarcastic tone:
"What? Finally became the animal you truly are?!"
Flugel stormed forward, each step pounding against the ground like thunder. Fists clenched so tight his knuckles became white. Rage fueled every stride as he tore through the path ahead, blind to everything except the fire burning inside of him.
Remenis went on to announce with a wide grin on his face:
"Yes... YES! I need you, as a PIECE!"
In a moment, Flugel's figure had disappeared from space itself, revealing absolutely to trace behind. Remenis swept his eyes across the field, looking for him. Only after then did Flugel's silhouette emerge in front of his very eyes.
But this time, Remenis wasn't shook or intimidated by any of Flugel's actions. One could say he wasn't impressed one bit.
Only then, Remenis raised his hands and pressed his fingertips together for a moment, then smoothly crossed his fingers with a gentle motion, then went on to quietly laugh with an annoying tone:
"Hehehehehehe..."
Flugel couldn't hear a word he was saying as his heart was filled with fury. Though the next moment, the following words that came out of his mouth could be heard from all over the field.
"Authority of Ignis... Ardere's prison!"
The next moment, Flugel felt trapped, as if time itself had stopped flowing. Frozen in one place, just a few inches away from Remenis.
The sky felt brighter and brighter with a reddish color, as if a new sun had appeared in the middle of the sunny sky. Remenis watched as each fire ball he had thrown earlier hadn't, in fact, disappeared and vanished but had been frozen in place in the air, using quite a bit of VLV from Remenis.
After a mere moment, the scarlet balls of fire started connecting to each other by a forming and shaping line, each two fire balls connected with a line, manifesting into a giant web of strings of flames.
The web surrounded Flugel from each direction, like bars of an underground prison or an animal cage.
Flugel immediately yelled with a voice filled with torment:
"REMENIS, YOU COWARD!"
Remenis replied with a wide grin on his face:
"There's no shame in returning the filthy act! In fact, I believe you shall for your sin, of being a coward, a fool, pushing a man into the flames to be devoured... DON'T YOU FEEL SHAME?!"
Flugel was even more maddened.
"How can I feel shame by killing someone like you?!"
Remenis closed his eyes and put his hand over his face, and turned the latter left and right in disappointment.
"Oh, you..."
Remenis peeked at Flugel through a hole between his fingers.
"You disgust me."
Remenis stepped back a few steps while giggling and then yelled:
"Fool... you absolutely disgrace... how couldn't you SEE IT?!"
With a rapid thrust, he opened his arms as if he were expecting the air and the world to come into his arms.
"You've fell RIGHT into my trap! My plan! My work! My..."
With a fierce force, Remenis put his hands against each other, crossed his fingers, and squeezed his hands together.
"MY DEDICATION!"
The web of strings, creating a dome, tightened by the second, as if it was closing and sealing itself into one single object. Flugel tried moving himself, but he felt as if he was paralyzed, frozen in space itself.
With a powerful and raging will, an intimidating gaze filling his face, Flugel broke free from the mysterious freezing force. He bared his teeth, growling like a hunting animal looking for his prey.
Unfortunately, it was far too late to think or plan for a way of escaping. The dome tightened and tightened even more rapidly each moment that passed.
When the dome reached the final size, Flugel froze as he watched the strings of flames slash his body as if hammers were hitting him.
Each blow felt like eternity, immense feelings of pain, and agony filled his mind with each blow. From all directions, from all coordinates, a never-ending chain of blows and slashes of inferno didn't have a bit of mercy on the human they were tormenting and torturing.
The touch of the strings of inferno only left trails of blistering agony, every flicker sent embers flying into the air.
Remenis watched with absolute amusement, one could say pleasure, the scene of a young man getting tortured to death was amusing to this creature, can one even call that Remenis human anymore?
As each blow grew stronger, harsher and more painful for a human to watch, so did Flugel's screams for help get louder and louder.
No matter where Flugel looked, there was no escaping the prison of pain that burned and produced embers with every breath he took.
Once the last string of flames burned Flugel's torso and legs one last time, Flugel's skin went pale, and his eyes were empty, as if his soul had already left a while ago.
As the embers and fire particles surrounded Flugel, he fell to his knees, then his torso and arms, and finally, his head.
Flugel was powerless, devastated, wrecked, and ultimately... defeated.
Remenis approached Flugel slowly as he was clapping his hands.
"Beautiful, an act of heroism made by a loved one... how truly magnificent..." Remenis said.
"How... dare you... you bastard..." Flugel said, struggling to even form a word.
Remenis looked at him with pity and said:
"Owh? You feel weak? Paralyzed? Or shall I say... defeated?!"
"I will... kill you..."
"INDEED! The savior of all laborers! The embodiment of all hopes of dreams of workers! The true representation of dedication!... has won."
Flugel lifted his head up a bit to peek on what was Remenis about to to do.
Remenis coughed and walked away slowly.
"But I have one last job to do here."
Flugel crawled across the dirt and grass using his hand as the pushing force. The grass wasn't that much blinding especially after it was all burnt due to the flames of Remenis.
Remenis formed a wide grin on his face as he shouted:
"A sinner has to pay for their sins, indeed... and a person who disrupts the work and honesty of someone... shall pay."
Flugel's heart sank, as he immediately knew what he was implying. With the last energy Flugel had, he shouted:
"Remenis! Don't you dare! Don't you dare Remenis!"
"What? I haven't said what I was going to do? Do you perhaps... want me to do it?"
"NO, NO I-"
"YES! If you were thinking about it then you must want me to do it!"
Remenis crouched low, and then released his legs like a spring, sending him flying towards the destination he wanted.
As he landed, he looked down to the person he wanted, none other than Flugel's own mother.
As he looked to the side, he saw the burning corpse of what was once Herkil, the scenery merely sent a sensation of disgust to Remenis' brain.
"Ugh... a beautiful act of heroism... yet, couldn't even act up to the title."
That's what he said before kicking the corpse away with a strong thrust.
As he looked back at Flugel's mother, he grabbed her by her neck, his fingers shoved into her throat, thankfully she was still unconscious.
After he lifted her off the ground, he held her in the air like a doll, a toy, an object. He then yelled:
"Look at me, Flugel."
Flugel tried to force his body to work just for a little longer, he lifted his eyes up just to be able to see what was going on.
"Do you see? Whoever this woman is to you... she seems to be of great status and importance."
Flugel said in a low voice:
"Keep your hands... off of her..."
Remenis was pleased with the response, and then shouted:
"Kill me, Flugel."
Flugel was in shock, "what the heck was that guy saying?" He thought to himself. The very same person he kept fighting for the last 10 to 15 minutes is asking him to kill him once and for all. It seemed like an easy win to Flugel so he was quite skeptical about it.
Remenis then added:
"Come on, Flugel! Don't make me change my mind!"
In a desperate attempt, Flugel raised his hand outward as he trembled from the pain, and then opened his palm. Even though his VLV and body were almost at their limit, he was going to take any chance to kill that Remenis.
And with a fierce force as he coughed his own blood, a beam of light emerged from his palm, storming forward like a raging serpent, no obstacle could ever, aimed at Remenis to evaporate him from all existence.
Remenis yelled in excitement:
"Yes... yes! Sweet death!"
After that sentence, the sound of the light beam penetrating through skin and flesh could be heard, the sound of skin being burnt, bones and ribs crushed to little pieces. It was surely an agonizing scenery to witness.
Flugel tried to hold on longer to see the achievement and accomplishment he had made, he had indeed, won.
"He's... dead" He thought to himself.
As he crawled forward, the light coming the beam grew dim and less brighter by the second. That was the last bit of his power, used in one last attack just to kill that man.
Once he was around just a few inches away from where Remenis was, the light coming from the beam had finally died out.
Only then, the truth finally unveiled.
Before Flugel, a body fell down in front of his face, a familiar warmth was turning cold, a familiar scent he had smelled before, a hand he had held many times before.
Before him, were familiar eyes, wide, unblinking eyes. A burnt dress that he had held many times before.
Tears grew larger and larger in his eyes, the skin around his cheeks grew red and so did his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks.
A scream had built in his lungs and mouth, yet no sound came out, his vocal cords were strong enough to say merely one word.
"Mother...?"
He raised and reached out his hand, only to hold the hand of the body before him. Flugel merely wanted to hold his mother's hand one last time.
"Mom? No, no, no-- this... this isn't-- MOM!"
He squeezed her hand, as his power failed him making him unable to do anything like pushing or shaking her.
With each moment that passed he begged, he begged his mother to live, to stay with him, in this life. He squeezed her hand tighter as despair and devastation washed over him and shattered his heart to pieces like a merciless killer.
His breath hitched, his chest tightening like a vice. His heart and mind screamed at him to do something-- but his body refused. He stared, wide-eyed, his vision became blurry as tears welled up.
A strangled sob tore from his throat, raw and uneven. His hands and almost entire body shaking violently, holding onto her lifeless body, fingers digging into her palm, as if doing so and begging could change the reality of what had happened.
"Flugel..."
"Mother?!"
A familiar sound that brought warmth to his heart could be heard, he thought he was merely imagining and hallucinating, but it seemed like reality.
"Yes, mom?!"
"Flugel... where are you?"
"Huh?!"
As Flugel looked up at her face, he realized what he had done. His beam had completely burnt his mother's eyes, resulting in her becoming absolutely blind.
"Where are you, son?"
"Mother, please, I'm right here!" He said as he held her hand tighter.
"Ah... Flugel, I feel your hand..."
"Yes, I-"
"Flugel... live a meaningful life..."
That's the last sentence he heard from his mother before the spark in her eyes faded, her hands slowly turned cold and became stiff.
Bertha Spes had, in fact, died.
"Truly... a magnificent show of honesty." Remenis said from a distance.
Flugel lifted his head up a bit to see the face of the very same person who killed his mother.
As Remenis clapped his hands and approached the two slowly, he said:
"What a show... pure honesty and affecting... it brought tears to my dry eyes!"
At that point, Flugel was unable to form even a letter. His tongue, hand, and body had failed him due to his VLV being used to the very limit.
"But, you'll both make great pieces for my games~"
That's the last thing that came out of Remenis' mouth before kicking Flugel in the head. Only then, Flugel's vision became blurry and unclear, his eyes closing against his will, and then-- nothing.