Alexander..

The increase of the malevolent aura almost made her sick. Sian could feel the dominance this aura exerted even though she was yet to see whom it belonged to.

He finally appeared, not looking anything like she had imagined. He was absolutely gorgeous. He looked like one who had been graced with eternal youth despite being in Nathaniel and Inferno's age grade. It was simply unbelievable. His face was calm and alluring, accompanied with the black robe and his ink black hair. His oblong face made sure to give out the details of his facial features and they weren't disappointing. His black pupils fell in sync with his hair and his clothing; His elegantly standing nose falling in alignment with his small round lips. He looked graceful, a sight to behold but his aura spoke completely different from what his looks told.

Anyone who'd just heard and met him for the first time would be totally deceived and fall prey to his looks without realizing the evil that cooked inside of the beast that such glorious skin encased.

"What a crew we have here" Alexander began taking quick glances at the individuals that stood in front him. A short laugh fell from his lips accompanied by a sigh before he crouched down to the floor, setting up a perfect throne for himself with the rocks that laid around.

"So, have you come to kill me?" He asked crossing his legs and resting his head on his arm. His expression was devoid of any kind of fear or amusement at their feats. He looked rather bored.

Nobody answered, each of them stood silent not moving their eyes an inch from where he sat. Their entire focus was on him. Any distraction could mean death and they weren't ready to risk failure.

"Well, won't you at least answer my question?" He urged now standing from his seat, his footsteps and crackling from the burning woods the only audible sounds in the area. His mouth opened in awe and disgust, as if he had just laid eyes on something he shouldn't have seen.

"Nathaniel, is that you? You look terrible" He commented pretending to have just seen him that moment before laughing to his own joke.

Nathaniel took two steps forward, facing his friend as they locked eyes.

"No, no!" Alexander spoke as if refusing an offer from Nathaniel. "You'd barely entertain me in your current state, you were always the weakest amongst four of us. After all and you could barely win against Inferno. You don't stand a chance at all" He mocked. He tilted his head slightly before raising a finger. "I want this one" He demanded, his finger pointing at the girl who didn't flinch or blink at Alexander's statement.

Warren had immediately stepped in front of her, blocking his finger

"Interesting, you're strong, for someone who doesn't have a fully developed elemental core in him. You were born to ordinary humans weren't you?" Alexander asked.

Warren almost gasped out of surprise, how did he know? Was it visible? The weakness and incompetency he felt inside.

'no' he snapped at himself, this was no time to doubt one's self

"How do I know?" He took the words out of Warren's mouth his smile even growing larger as he displayed his supremacy in knowledge. He seemed to enjoy being dominant in everything he did and it was obvious.

"Our powers are like gifts, they only go to ones who they deem worthy and in some cases, person's who they think can handle their power even without being worthy of it. And this is why, half breeds like you are born" Alexander relayed. "You only have these gifts not because you are worthy but because you have the strength to control it." He added returning to his throne as he lectured them more.

"You must have learnt that I can take one's powers Haven't you?" He questioned but got no reply. "You see these gifts inside of us have a mind of their own, and are osmotic in nature. I don't take people's powers, the powers only chose me because I am more worthy. Once they see a being capable of handling them, they simply leave the weak body into the strong one leaving the weak to suffer death as a cost for their weakness"

"You monster!" Nathaniel barked. "You don't get to decide who's weak or strong, you don't get to decide who lives or dies" He reminded.

"You're pathetic Nathaniel, you always have been. None of you here could possibly understand what it means to be powerful since you can't even house more than one element. And then, you dare to show your faces to me?" Alexander asked, his tone growing with every word he pronounced.

"And you Harold" He turned to the boy who still stood in front of his friends. "You incompetency of a son!"

Every eye turned towards Harold simultaneously, demanding for answers to the claims that the maniac had just made.

"Son?" Edmund finally asked.

Harold turned to his friend, realizing the gig was up. All he had told them about himself had been a lie, his entire life with them had been a lie but he had grown to love everyone of them even though that didn't really justify his actions.

From birth, he had trained alongside his father, proving to be a child prodigy. His battle intellect shone even as a kid coupled with his graceful control over his element, no one in his age bracket could stand against him in terms of strength and he established that fact by winning in duels even against stronger opponents but this never satisfied his father.

He had grown tired of the incessant pestering from his father to grow stronger through brutal training that he had escaped from home and was surviving on his own as a child until Inferno met and took him in.

He'd finally met another child whom he could consider his equal and had trained with him alongside his new father to grow his skills and intellect. Being completely honest, he never knew his father was the mastermind behind the scenes pulling every string of his life from the start up until now but he didn't show it.

Harold didn't want to give his God forsaken father the pleasure of seeing him breakdown and damaged from living a lie, and neither did he want pity from his friends. Their pity would only make him look weak and he was anything but weak. He felt genuinely sorry for playing them, but nobody would ever want to be friends with the son of a sociopath. He had concealed the identity of his father not because of his reputation but because his father was dead to him from the time he escaped home.

He had explained his ordeals to them and things had gone far from what he had expected. He wasn't blamed at all, instead they laid more criticism on the maniacal man he was unlucky to get as a father. He was abused as a kid and everyone would do the same to such a beast. No one could even him consider him a father or even tell stories about him.

"If you had only been man enough to stay home and train with a stronger teacher, you wouldn't be stuck at only half of your power now. You're pathetic, you all are. You all combined barely surpass half of my strength, it's suicidal trying anything. My victory have already been carved in stone" Alexander bragged. "I have no interest in the weak" He continued. "All I want is her, give her up and I might consider letting you walk out of here alive" He offered.

Harold's voice heralded the entire place, changing the once gloomy environment into one filled with his laughter.

Once again, all eyes turned on him. He was the worst person when it came to expressing himself.

He continued his laughter finally stopping when he saw the puzzled look on his father's face.

"If your victory is carved in stone, then all we have do is break the rock into pieces. You won't win, you will never win!" Harold assured, something about him suddenly changing.

Alexander raised an eyebrow, not impressed by the sudden flaring of aura. It was still just a cup out of a stream when compared to his. He couldn't deny it, his son had potential but even if he had tapped into the latent part of it, one fight would never be enough to suffice for his years of training and the amount of power he had in him.

"I advice you stay out of my way, her death would be for the greater good, I will create a world where Elementals no longer live in fear. We're the gifted ones yet we hide from the ordinary human. Her death will bring forth our uprising and Elementals shall rule over the earth as we should. Life is a battlefield, the weak can only hope they don't encounter the most powerful and right now, you should pray that you don't incure my wrath" Alexander warned. His eyes suddenly glaring and his aura almost pressing down on them like gravity.

Being in his presence already gave them the idea of how powerful he was. But neither of them looked eager to quit.

"Now, make your choice, give me the girl or perish"