Ruined World, near an ocean of lava two people were teaming up together to take an army of fish-like monsters. They were made of molten rocks and lived in the lava ocean.

“First, I run into you and now I’m stuck fighting these freaks! This can’t get any worse!”

Tessa shouted while kicking away a fish monster and charging at another.

“Is that the way you treat the guy who saved you?”

Kristen replied. He released his claws, charged at the monsters, and started slashing them.

“Ha! Just who saved who?! You were probably running from something and saw me and came to me to protect you!”

“That’s ridiculous. Do you think if I was really in a bind I would look towards you for help? I would rather take on this army by myself.”

The two argued as they had their backs turned to each other and was fighting off whatever pounced at them. If someone was to know they were actually the only ones to find comrades in this hellish world, they would laugh saying that they were naturally fated to be together. This of course would make the two of them furious. Believe it or not, the two meeting was pure coincidence which made it even funni—more interesting.

“What’s wrong, Tessa? Your moves are sluggish.”

“Look who’s talking. I could easily dodge those punches of yours with my eyes closed.”

The two were breathing heavily and were getting slower by the second.

“Ugh!”

Tessa was hit in the stomach after failing to repel two monsters that attacked together. Hearing her groan, Kristen turned around and saw the monsters approaching Tessa.

“….!”

His pupils instantly contracted and became slit. He moved and destroyed them with a swift and powerful kick, despite being out of strength just a second before.

“Why are you acting so weak?”

He lifted Tessa off the ground and said.

“We still have a lot of enemies left.”

Tessa looked at him and thrust her fist at his head. Kristen didn’t blink as the fist past his face and hit something behind him. She smashed a monster’s head.

“Says the guy that let his guard down.”

“I didn’t have my guard down, I was going to kill it.”

“When? After it crushed your skull?”

The two looked at each other and then smiled.

“It seems that fate is dead set on keeping us together.”

They turned their back to each other but drew closer at the same time. They were literally standing back to back.

“To be honest, I need space.”

Crimson aura started leaking out of Kristen’s body while a black one leaked from Tessa’s.

“I agree. It’s getting stuffy in here.”

The crimson and black aura entangled. An image of a crimson cat wearing an armor of black bones appeared behind them.

“Let’s make some space by getting rid of these bastards!”

The two rushed forward, trusting their back to the other, and charged into the army of monsters.

*Bam!*

Tessa swung both arms in front of her. Spikes of ice pierced through several monsters. She spread her arm and black wind took out monsters from her sides. She lifted both hands in the air and a ball of darkness appeared over her head. The ball separated into smaller balls and charged at the monsters turning into black lasers that pierced right through them.

Meanwhile, Kristen was surrounded by crimson flames. He leaped into the air and aimed a stomp towards the ground.

*BAM!*

He stomped a monster into the ground while releasing waves of flames at his enemies. He gathered crimson aura in his palm and thrust it forward. The aura hit some monsters and caused them to explode. Seeing the damage he caused, he leaped back and landed behind Tessa. He silently stretched his hand behind him. Tessa silently grasp it while looking in the opposite direction.

“Combo Move…”

Crimson aura travelled from Kristen’s body and surrounded Tessa while black aura traveled from Tessa and surrounded Kristen.

“Crimson Hel!”

*BAM!*

A huge explosion of crimson light with traces of darkness devoured everything in the area. When the explosion faded away only the twins remained. They had destroyed the army of fish monsters.

“Ugh…”

The two collapsed on the ground after a groan.

“They used a large scale attack to take out the enemy….If it didn’t made them completely defenseless after, I would praise them.”

Said Markus who was watching them from a far.

“What do you think? Are they ready to start training?”

He asked Kimiko who was beside him.

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“They won’t admit it but those two are their strongest when they’re together. They might argue but they must be trained side by side if they are to truly to grow.”

Kimiko smiled.

“I think they’re ready. Who knows, they might grow in ways we never would’ve expected.”

At a different part of the Ruined World. Ace was walking by himself through a barren land of flames. The ground cracked open and a monster emerged from the earth and charged at him. Ace moved out of the way with minimal movement and activated his Beastly Vita. His arm changed texture. It looked like it was made of molten rock. Ace’s arm now matched the monster charging at him.

He took a step forward and threw a punch.

*BAM!*

His fist bore right through its chest and caused it to crumble. He stared at it as it fell apart. He grabbed something that was falling. It was a red crystal. He took the crystal and stared at it for a while before swallowing it!

His orange eyes started glowing. He exhaled smoke that was inside his lungs.

“Oh? You’re devouring the monsters?”

He turned around and saw Aeon walking towards him.

“I’m just doing what you instructed me to do.”

Aeon nodded.

“Those with Beastly Vita can obtain the characteristics of monsters and beasts by bonding with them, but that there’s a faster way. You just need to devour their hearts or cores. I taught you both methods but you chose the more barbaric method.”

“I chose the faster method. Besides…”

Ace swung his molten arm around and smashed the head of a molten monster who was trying to sneak attack him from behind.

“Besides, I doubt you can bond with these things.”

He swung his arm around and caught another red crystal from the monster’s body without turning away from Aeon. He swallowed it like he did the other one.

“How did you find me anyway?”

“Coincidence.”

“Like I’ll buy that. Anyway, you came at a good time. I need to find Hina and Sora, help me out will you?”

He walked past Aeon who followed behind him.

“I’m supposed to be training you guys anyway, so I don’t mind. Besides, I actually like you, Ace. So it should be fun hanging out together.”

“On second thought, stay here. I’ll find them myself.”

Aeon laughed.

“You know that’s not what I meant. As you should already know, I don’t really have that much friends, so I thought that we could become friends.”

“That sounds unpleasant, so I’ll have to decline.”

There was a mountain range in the distance. For now, the two were heading towards it.

“Oh, there was another way to get stronger with Beast Vita that I never told you about. It’s consider a taboo now though.”

“You kill someone with Beastly Vita and eat their heart.”

Aeon eyes widened for a bit before a smile appeared on his face.

“So you already knew? Did you someone tell you or did you figure it out yourself?”

“We Beastly Vita users have the ability to take on the characteristics of beasts, but where are these characteristics stored? Thinking that I thought about my own Boost Player that stores different characteristics in my brain. Since Beastly Vita doesn’t affect Boost Player, then that means it’s not stored in the brain. Then I asked why can we eat the cores and hearts of monsters and get stronger while others can’t. That’s when it hit me, we must possess something that differentiate us from other humans. A core.”

Aeon nodded.

“Beastly Vita users need to develop a core inside them before they can copy beast characteristics. This is why I had you work on only circulating the Vita in your body for a while before actually teaching you how to copy beastly characteristics.”

He explained. Ace continued.

“When I figured out we had a core, I then asked myself a question. If we can get stronger by eating the heart or core of a monster, then was it possible to get stronger by eating each other’s hearts where the core is located? I also learnt that we were no different from beasts since we have cores like them.”

“With that reasoning, have you ever considered devouring a human heart to get stronger?”

Aeon was very curious about how far would Ace go for strength. He could tell he sought strength like the others and was a very proud person. Yet, he didn’t know why Ace sought strength and how strong was his desire for it. He was looking to dissect Ace’s character with a single question.

“If you want to know if I would ever kill a human and devour their heart to get stronger, then there’s only one thing that would make me do that.”

“Which is?”

“If Sora, Hina, or Miko’s life was at risk. If it’s for them I would gladly eat a million human hearts.”

Aeon obsevered Ace’s expression for a while. He then away and faced forward.

“As I thought, I really like you, Ace. Come on, let’s be friends.”

“No way. You’re too creepy.”

Aeon laughed and two continued on their way.

*********

There was a section of the Ruined World that was filled with dangerous monsters with highly destructive abilities. These monsters ranged from dragons to chimeras the size of trucks. Here someone was taking on these monsters with two swords in his hands. He had dark skin and hair and had a devilishly handsome face. His clothes were pretty much rags at this point. This person was Miko who was using the first stage of his Irregularity, Ascending Satan- Dark Lord.

“Dark Horde!”

Dozens of dark monsters rushed out of Miko’s shadow and attacked a giant molten chimera monster. The dark beasts only stalled the monsters for a second but that was enough for Miko. He covered his two swords in darkness.

“X-Night!”

He swung his swords in front of him one by one. A X-shaped dark slash cut through the monster and divided it into 4.

“Roar!”

He heard a roar behind him and turned around to see a molten dragon flying towards him. Miko smiled despite him his strength being completely depleted. He stabbed his swords in the ground and walked forward.

“I’m leaving what comes next to you two.”

(No problem.)

Ishma and Regis responded in his mind. Miko closed his eyes and found himself standing in a dark place with no ground, just an ocean of black water underneath. He blinked and saw a gigantic crimson cat monster standing before him. He placed his hand on its head.

“It’s playtime, Beleth.”

*********

Miko opened his eyes when he felt a burning sensation take over his entire body. He started grinning as his teeth turned into fangs. His fingernails grew sharp and turned into claws. Crimson markings started appearing all over his body and his eyes turned a dark crimson. Even his black hair had traces of crimson in it.

“Roar!”

The dragon roared as it came closer to Miko.

“Hahahahaha!”

Miko replied with a mad laugh and lowered his center of gravity. The dragon started diving towards him. Miko leaped off the ground with explosive strength and shot up into the sky. The dragon released a breath of lava at Miko.

“Hahahaha!”

Miko continued to laugh hysterically in the face of the attack and showed no signs of trying to avoid it. He covered his right fist in black flames that had traces of crimson in it, and threw a punch.

*Bam!*

The punch clashed with the lava and even force it scattered. Seeing that it’s attack failed, the dragon dove and rammed its head into Miko. The dragon forced Miko into the ground and caused it to crack open.

*Bam!*

It’s head was forced to the side after receiving a powerful blow from Miko’s fist. He got up and looked at the dragon that was shaking it’s head in pain.

“Hahahaha!”

Miko rushed towards the dragon, leaped, and stomped its head into the ground.

“Rooarr!”

The dragon got irritated and flung Miko off its head. It charged at him while preparing to shoot lava from its mouth. Miko disappeared from reappeared beside the dragon’s head.

“Hahaha!”

He laughed and kicked the dragon’s jaw and forced its mouth shut.

*BAM!*

The lava attack exploded in its mouth and caused its head to burst apart. Miko watched the headless body stagger about and then slammed his fist into the stomach causing it to explode.

“Hahahaha!”

Miko laughed as pieces of the monster rained down around him. Meanwhile, Tia appeared near Ishma and Regis who were still in their sword forms.

“He mixed his demon blood with his Irregularity and obtained a new level of ferocity that grants him unpredictability. I can see a lot of people being troubled by this if it’s developed correctly.”

She looked at Miko who was still laughing and looking for more people to fight.

“It looks like focusing on improving and mastering what he already had, rather than learn new things, was the right decision. If he learns to mix the things he already have, he can create a completely new set of techniques.”

“Haha—”

Miko suddenly stopped laughing and collapsed on the ground.

Ishma and Regis took their human forms.

“Well, he’s out for a while.”

“And this is where the real training begins.”

The two said while approaching him with their arms turned into blades.

“We’re going to force him to learn how to fight even after losing consciousness.”