Chance

"Chiva, is the process going alright? Is Ariston okay?" Fritz asked in concern as he gazed at the unconscious Ariston lying on the floor.

"Yes, but it will still take some time before he wakes up. His injuries are very critical." Chiva stated in an anxious voice as she was holding her grimoire in one hand while the other hand had a green magic circle on its palm, releasing a green wave of energy towards Ariston.

Fritz stared at his fallen friend with concerned and worried eyes before he shifted his gaze towards Ace, Dimitri, and Lilith who had their backs to the tree. Ace was gripping onto his chest and coughing, Dimitri was holding his side and groaning from the pain, and Lilith was rolling on the floor while tightly holding her stomach.

"Will you guys be okay?" Fritz asked in a calm and gentle voice as he walked towards the three and sat right next to them.

"We don't need Chiva's healing, our injuries aren't critical. But fuck it hurts a lot." Dimitri said in an irritated and angry voice as he tightly held onto his side.

"I see, what about you, Ace?" Fritz asked as he shifted his gaze towards Ace.

"Oh don't...*cough*...worry about...*cough*...me...*cough*...I'm only...*cough*...dying over here...*cough*." Ace replied in a sarcastic voice as he tried his best to smile at Fritz, yet constantly failing as he coughed multiple times throughout his phrase.

"...I see. Chiva will treat you after you're done-" Fritz stated to his friend before getting interrupted by the loud screaming of Lilith, who was rolling on the floor.

"Son of a bitch! My stomach hurts so much! I want to kill that shitty old man right now!" Lilith declared in an enraged voice as she kicked, screamed, and rolled on the ground.

"Lilith, please calm down a little. After all, we are the ones at fault." Fritz spoke in a calm voice.

"I know! It's just...I hate him for doing that to Ariston...He didn't deserve it."Lilith stopped shouting and rolling before she expressed herself in a quiet and sad voice.

"Me too, but we don't have much of a choice. I really wish I could have accepted Blaze's offer and told him where the wizards are, but we can't risk the safety of the village." Fritz stated in a disappointed voice before he buried his face into his hands from shame.

"Hmm, a village you say?" An adult voice spoke from behind the tree, startling everyone.

Everyone immediately stood up in a panic while Chiva was still trying to heal Ariston in a hurry. The voice belonged to none other than Blaze. He was leaning on the tree and staring at the six with a curious expression, yet it was still an irritated one.

"H-How are you awake?" Lilith asked in a troubled voice as she stood in a stance, ready to fight.

"I wasn't asleep to start with. I wanted you to transport me to wherever you were going, so I can have much more space to fight and not cause any disturbance to my daughter or my customers." Blaze answered in a nonchalant voice.

"But how? Chiva's sleep spell is unbreakable." Dimitri stated in a voice filled with disbelief.

"I am a user of dark magic. Cheap spells like that can't do anything against me. Anyways, you have twenty seconds to tell me what this village thing is about, or I will burn you all to death," Blaze said as he glared at the six before he removed his glove and aimed his hand at them, 'Right here, right now." He said in a cold voice.

The team stared at each other before Fritz took a few steps towards Blaze and raised his hands in the air.

"Our leader, Ariston Jagger has a hometown in the outskirts of the kingdom, it's called oliveranch. Six days ago, three wizards wanted to hire us to capture you, but we refused because there wasn't any valid reason to do so. But, they threatened us that they will burn down the village and kill everyone in there if we don't accomplish the mission. We had no choice but to accept." Fritz spoke in a disappointed voice as he held his head down in shame.

"Alright, that does it for my question." Blaze declared as he wore his gloves.

"So, will you help us?" Fritz asked in curiosity and wonder before Blaze started bursting into laughter while the six were staring at him in confusion.

"Hahaha…*inhale*...Fuck no!" Blaze said in a joyful voice as he stared at the six with teary eyes from laughter.

"Fritz, everything you said about this old shitbag is absolute bullshit. He's a garbage human being!" Dimitri declared in an angry voice as he glared at Blaze.

"Oh, I'm sorry for not being a retard and permitted my naivety to overtake me and helped the ones who bragged into my tavern, disturbed the peace, threatened me, assaulted me, and kidnapped me in the end. Please forgive me!" Blaze said in a melodramatic voice as he placed the back of his hand on his forehead.

"Why did you make it sound like we succeed in any of that? We only walked into your tavern, asked for you, had all the customers ridicule and insult us, fought you only when you started beating our friend to death, and we only teleported you under a tree without even tying you up!" Lilith yelled before she grew a pair of clams from her hands.

"I am only speaking the language of the law, and the law enforces the fact that you did commit all of that, even if it wasn't your intention. So, as long as the law says that, all of you shall be punished accordingly to the crimes you have committed." Blaze spoke in a serious voice.

"That is bullshit!" Ace shouted at Blaze.

"That's not bullshit, that's real life. Deal with it." Blaze stated for one last time, leaving everyone silent and in a state of disbelief.

"Isaac B-B-Blaze...Please-...Please fight me." Ariston struggled to talk as he crawled towards Blaze with one arm.

"... ...Eh? How the fuck are you conscious?" Blaze asked in a perplexed voice as he looked at Ariston.

"Blaze-...please give us a chance to defeat you-...please," Ariston said as he kept crawling with one hand.

"Hmm, how about no?" Blaze said as he rested his chin on his fist.

"Please-...Blaze." Ariston pleaded before he reached Blaze.

"Kid, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill all of you here and deal with the wizards afterward." Blaze said in a cold and threatening voice.

"I am-...doing this for my younger brother and sister-...Blaze-...please-...I promised them that I wouldn't lose, that I would come back as a great knight, and that I would make their life easier. Isaac Blaze, please-...give me one chance." Ariston pleaded as he grabbed onto Blaze's leg while a trail of tears was running down his cheek as he kept his cheerful smile.

Blaze gazed at the crying young boy as he pleaded for one chance to fight him. He clenched his fist and punched the tree in frustration, cracking it to the point where it could fall off at any moment.

"Fine! But only one of you will fight me!" Blaze spoke in an irritated and frustrated voice.

"What?!" Chiva exclaimed.

"That's impossible!" Ace shouted.

"How the hell can only one of us beat you?!" Dimitri asked.

"Let me rip his throat off!" Lilith screamed as she tried to leap towards Blaze before she got stopped by Fritz.

"Everyone, please calm down. I shall be the one to take him on." Fritz spoke to his freinds in a calm voice before he shifted his gaze at Blaze.

"No. Fritz, I must fight him myself," Ariston said, agitating everyone by his statement.

"Ariston? Are you crazy?! You'll instantly if he just farts on you." Lilith shouted at Ariston, trying to bring him back to his senses.

"Not if I do the ritual," Ariston stated after his smile faded away before Ace and Fritz stared at him in shock upon his statement.

"Ariston, are you sure?" Ace asked in concern.

"He's a dark magic user like me, we only have one chance to take him down. Plus, Fritz is here if things become dangerous," Ariston said as he gave a comforting smile to Ace, "So, please rest assured, Ace. Your brother won't disappoint you." He said in a comforting and cheerful voice as he stared at Ace, which the latter replied to by a nod as a sad smile formed on his face.

"Chiva, create the pentagram," Fritz ordered Chiva before he sat on the ground and crossed his legs.

Chiva replied with a nod of her head as she opened her grimoire and placed her palm on the ground, instantly creating a blood-red pentagram.

"Lilith, get the blood," Fritz said.

Lilith also replied with a nod of her head as she used her claw to carefully scratch Ariston's cheek to extract his blood, then she walked towards the pentagram and spilled the blood drop in the middle.

"Ace, fire," Fritz ordered Ace before he conjoined his hands together in a praying position.

Ace knelt towards the pentagram and placed the palm of his hand on it, burning it and creating a pentagram made out of flames.

"Ariston, let's start," Fritz said in a dead-serious voice as his left hand was engulfed in bright green color while the right one was engulfed in yellow.

Ariston lied down on his back in the middle of the burning pentagram, yet nothing happened to him. Fritz held Ariston's head when suddenly the pentagram started shining in a bright crimson color, and so did Fritz's hands.

"I know this is not my business, but can you all tell me what's going on here?" Blaze asked in a nonchalant voice.

"And why should we tell you?" Lilith said in a mocking voice as she crossed her arms.

"Because fuck you that's why." Blaze replied in an angered voice.

"You shitty old man! I'm going to kill you!" Lilith shouted as she leaped towards Blaze before Dimitri caught her and apprehended her.

"Lilith! Calm down!" Dimitri said as he tried to stop Lilith from going berserk.

While Lilith was screaming and cursing at Blaze, Chiva walked towards him and cleared her throat before she started talking.

"Like every dark magic user, Ariston went through a lot of trouble in his life when it came to his relationships and his social life, he even had great trouble to convince some of us to join his team, I included. But what makes Ariston different, is that he wields magic that is far evolved and far more evil and destructive than dark magic. Demonic magic." Chiva said in a serious voice as she stared at Ariston in concern and worry.

"Demonic magic?" Blaze asked in curiosity as he raised his eyebrow.

"Yes. It isn't exactly a type of magic, more like a curse. When he was still a new-born child, his parents abandoned him when they found out he had an ancient curse on him, one that makes the victim use a taboo type of magic, that of the demons." Chiva said.

"I see. But, what are they doing now?" Blaze asked in wonder.

"Ariston's curse was sealed by an archpriest when he was still a child. The only way to temporarily break the seal is by this:

The pentagram's purpose is to help Fritz unlock his taboo alchemy, once that is done, the pentagram must have a simple drop of blood of that who will have his body manipulated by Fritz, the fire is to ignite Ariston's life-energy and make it more visible, it is not harmful at all only to that whose blood was dripped into the pentagram.

Lastly, Fritz will then use his taboo powers and try to manipulate Ariston's physical body and life-energy at the same time to try and break the seal from him.

Once the seal is broken, Fritz will still have a little bit of control over Ariston, which means that he can make him stop if he tries to go on a rampage or loses his mind. If Fritz goes unconscious or becomes too tired, his control will break and so will the process of un-sealing the curse, which will lead to Ariston going back to his normal self and go unconscious immediately." Chiva stated.

"I see." Blaze nonchalantly replied.

"Mr.Blaze, you still have one last chance to give up before the fight starts. I am not lying to you when I say that things will become very ugly when Ariston unleashes his full power." Chiva said in an uneasy voice.

Blaze started hysterically laughing after hearing Chiva's warning, "Oh, silly mage. If you think that I'm the one who'll get hurt in this fight...Then you are very-...very wrong." He stated in a cheerful voice before he slowly shifted into his dead-cold voice that brought chills to Chiva.

"Get ready to see the real meaning of ugly, Miss Chiva." Blaze said in a bone-chilling voice as he glared at Chiva before he smirked.

Suddenly, the ground under Ariston cracked before he opened his eyes, did a kick-up, and launched himself in front of Blaze, standing tall with a cheerful smile and fiery eyes.

"Isaac Blaze! Let's get ready to rumble!" Ariston shouted in a lively and energetic voice before he raised both of his fists in the air and smirked at Blaze.

The fight begins.