A House Divided

 West of the island is a valley. Usually, people would avoid the place since it lacks water, and the only water source is in the valley, between multiple rocky hills and mountains. The greenery stopped growing around the area, making travelers avoid it even more. There are bones and rotting, old carcasses scattered across the area. Carcasses of dead animals and some skeletons of lost travelers. Anyone who comes across the mountains will describe the area as a nightmare. There is very little vegetation, and the water source is in the valley amidst the mountainous terrains. A tiger dashes away from the valley once it has finished its task. It is probably aware of the area or because of someone's presence disturbing the entire valley. Inside the valley, two men are standing there, waiting for something. One is wearing only casual attire, while the other is wearing a black and brown colored garb made of leather. Then, from afar, they could see someone approaching them alone. 

"Are you sure this is the best time, Owen?" Hawke asks the Underworld King. 

"…This is the only time, old friend," Owen answers. 

"Are we in Hell because it is arid in here? I'll watch from the lake if you don't mind," Hawke states. 

"There's a seat reserved in Hell for us after all this, but I still have my body and head here," Owen jokes. 

"If I may ask, before anything, what in the world did you come here to fight for, old friend?"

Owen remains silent for a few seconds. 

"Don't ask me. It is pathetic, is it not?" 

"I've taken thousands of lives and watched many contenders die in front of me; I have no idea how to have a proper fight between family members," Owen sighs, scratching his head. 

"The only way I know to show my feelings is through this thing."

He points at the two axes strapped to both sides of his waist. 

"See you soon, Owen."

Hawke walks away as the lone entity continues approaching Owen. His long, leather trench coat can be seen as he gets closer, along with the great sword and dagger strapped to his back and waist. The man stops on his steps when they are precisely five meters away. 

"…"

"…"

"How much can you know with those circuits of yours?" Owen asked the person standing in front of him. 

"…What I know right now is you'll be dead, Baldy," Weiss states, looking at Owen straight in the eye. 

"Don't call me that. Call me your cool-headed uncle, brat," Owen chuckles, tossing his wig to the ground, revealing his bald head. 

"…"

The blazing sun is shining on his bald head. 

"…"

The man sighs, closing his eyes. 

"You see me dead?" 

Suddenly, Owen disappears. A slight breeze blew on Weiss's cheek. He does not turn around because he knows where the man is now. Owen is beside him, facing the opposite direction he is facing. 

"Get started, then," Owen taunts Weiss. 

Weiss grits his teeth, and the two immediately turn around with a fist on each hand. Both swung their arms and punched the other directly in the face, ignoring any defense whatsoever. Due to that, both were launched backward away from each other, but it did not stop them. They quickly stood back up again and charged towards each other. Weiss jumps upwards and kicks the man in the face with his knee, but Owen manages to block it with his wrist. The Underworld King grabs his knee and throws him to the side, smashing Weiss to the ground. Before Weiss can stand up, Owen launches towards him with a fist tucked and punches Weiss's chest. Weiss took a direct hit, but he quickly grabbed the man's arm, preventing him from escaping, and kicked him with his knee, launching Owen away. Owen crashed to the ground but quickly got back on his feet before Weiss could hit him. 

Weiss draws out his sword and attempts to slash Owen, but the man quickly unsheathes his axes and blocks the attack with them. The two continue to land a barrage of aggression towards each other. Each of their attacks is blocked by the other. Owen attempts to slash Weiss with his axes, but Weiss quickly gets into his range and kicks the man's jaw, pacifying him completely. In that instant, a flash of memory dazzles inside Owen's head. 

…..

 "Weiss. William. Grow strong, both of you. Protect each other, and wait till I sort things out. I promise we will get out of here soon," his words linger inside his head. 

At the same time, Weiss trips him to the ground and punches his face. 

"Look at me, Owen!"

"Look at me!"

"I've grown stronger!"

"Strong enough to kill you right now!"

Owen attempts to attack Weiss with his axe, but Weiss quickly counters his sloppy swing by punching his face, further pacifying him. He swings his great sword and cleaves Owen's right arm. Weiss then continues to cleave his left leg, incapacitating him even further. Owen trips, leaving his neck wide open. Weiss instantly raises his great sword and swings at full might. However, Owen manages to stop the attack by grabbing the blade with his left arm, but it costs him too much. Weiss ignores the block, raises his sword once again, and decapitates the man's head clean off his neck. 

"…Haah…Haah…."

"…"

"…Don't you think you have enough time watching now?" Weiss asks someone, despite the plane being empty. 

Silence greeted him, but he was not even slightly convinced. Weiss approaches the body and grabs the head before suddenly tossing it toward Owen's initial position before the fight starts. Suddenly, Owen is standing there, still alive and standing. Not even a scratch on his body. He is just standing calmly, assessing the situation. 

"I am not the same as I was before. I can see the illusion you are projecting with my circuits!" Weiss announces, gazing at Owen. 

"Huh. You speak with such confidence as you always do. Well, for now, I'll take your word for it," Owen seethed. 

"You broke through the Illusion Sphere. You've gotten strong," he adds. 

"…How did you do it?"

"…"

"…You never use both your axes at the same time, not with your other spells in that other hand," Weiss states, and points his sword at Owen. 

"No matter how much of that Projection you toss at me, what happened before is enough to fuel me through that," Weiss declares. 

Owen sighs as if he remembers something that he had regretted. 

"Huh…some strong words. Now, let me throw them back at you."

 Slowly, for some reason, the air around Owen is shifting. Weiss notices this, and he quickly pulls out his dagger. Owen begins to pace around Weiss, further assessing the situation. He realizes that since Weiss has broken through his projection spell, further illusions will become useless. Slowly, he shifts the magical energy inside him to his entire body, strengthening his attacks. Weiss instantly does the same, trying to make sure he can compensate for his uncle's possible attacks. Then, all of a sudden, Owen quickly ran away more profoundly into the valley. Weiss, who is surprised by this, quickly followed him from behind. Despite the man's age, Owen is running faster than Weiss is. However, Weiss muscles up more speed to compensate. 

The two of them begin entering a mountainous, rocky area. The land is irregular compared to the flat plain they were fighting on before. During their hurdle, Owen points his index finger to Weiss. In that instant, Weiss dodges to the left before chains made from magical energy suddenly appear and strike his previous position. It would have injured him had he not escaped the attack. However, Owen somehow sees this and pulls the chain back towards himself. The load by the end of the chain hits Weiss back. Weiss managed to transfer enough energy to his back to prevent a lethal injury. Despite that, Weiss is puzzled by something. He is curious whether that chain attack is genuinely fatal to him. Nevertheless, he kept on going. The two of them ran like an intricate game of cat and mouse. 

 * * * * *

Years back…

 As Weiss enters the island's only tavern through the heavily used wooden door, he is welcomed by a layer of smoke below the ceiling, cold stares, and horrific scents. The bartender casually reads something and does not acknowledge his presence. It isn't as pleasant inside as it is outside. Wooden beams support the upper floors, and lanterns are attached to them. The walls are decorated with plaques, though they have not been changed or been cleaned for years. The tavern inside is packed with contenders, the primary clientele here. Some contenders are drinking loudly, chanting, and yelling inside the bar in a drunken haze, but the rest inside are silent and keep to themselves. Whoever they are, they give Weiss the uncomfortable feeling of dread, though he remains oblivious to it—the sounds of music inside the tavern by the ensemble. The tunes made by the Bodhrán, Uilleann pipes, harp, fiddle, and a Bouzuki lighten the lively mood inside the dull bar. 

He walked to the edge of the tavern and saw two people talking. He quickly sat at the table beside theirs with a wooden border separating himself from them. He sits there and listens. 

"…You all right, William?" Owen asks. 

"Yeah, yeah. The…match went well…" the man with shaggy, coal-black hair babbles, rubbing the back of his head. 

"...I sense a 'but' coming."

"…"

"…It's Weiss, Owen." 

Owen looks up as if he is expecting the topic. He nearly sighed in exhaustion but held it back as a polite gesture. 

"It's just he is different now-."

"You know, and I get it. Going through something like this at a very young age, and you change-."

"…But, something is just not right to me."

Owen finally sighed, which caught William's attention.

"Owen, what the hell?" William asked, clearly offended by it. 

"I…sorry. Go on," Owen apologizes, but William doesn't take it. 

"You know, you are the one person I can talk to about this stuff. About Weiss, about leaving that girl, I had a few months back-."

"-I mean, I don't even know which way is up right now…"

When he looked back up, Owen's eyes were slowly closing. His head is sagged against the tavern wall in exhaustion. 

"Owen? Owen!" William calls, waking him up from his doze. 

The man frankly got back to his original posture and wiped his face. 

"I'm sorry, William. It's just. It's just not a good time," Owen apologizes. 

"…You know what. Just forget it, all right?"

"I mean, I'm baring my soul like a friggin' girl here…" William chuckles. 

"…And you got stuff to do-."

"-So that is…That's fine." 

"That's fine. Seriously, that's a little selfish," William chastised. 

"It's not all about you," he adds. 

Owen's posture changes entirely as he looks at William dead in the eye. His sleepy eyes and posture disappeared utterly, and he seemed slightly infuriated. 

"Weiss! Get here," he calls out, loud enough for Weiss to hear but slow enough so it doesn't make a ruckus. 

Weiss slowly stands up, revealing himself. William was slightly surprised by this, but he quickly regained his composure. Weiss sits next to William, and the two of them face Owen. 

Owen poured a glass of whiskey into his glass and drank it all in one gulp. He runs in another one. After that, he looks at both of them. 

"William. Weiss…"

"I love you two like my own. I do-" he states with a gentle tone. 

"But sometimes…"

Again, he drinks the whiskey in one shot before thumping the glass on the table. His expression changed again. His eyebrows furrowed, and he clenched his jaw. 

"…Sometimes you two are the whiniest, most self-absorbed sons of bitches I ever met!" he chastised them back. 

"Me?"

"I do everything for you two!" he yells, frustrated.

"Everything!" he emphasized. 

"You need some gear scrounged up?!" 

"You need your asses pulled out of the fire?!" 

"You need someone to bitch about each other?!" 

"You go to me, and I come through."

"EVERY. DAMN. TIME!"

"-And what do I get for it?" 

"Jack with a side of squat!" he lashed out.

His demeanor attracted the attention of the entire tavern. 

"Owen…," Weiss tried to interrupt.

"Do I sound like I am done?!" Owen lashes out again, silencing Weiss. 

Several busybodies tried to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Now, look. I know you have issues. God knows, I know-."

"But here is a news flash…"

"You two aren't the center of the universe!" Owen states, banging the table. 

He lowered his head, slightly realizing his mistake. However, he quickly signals the two of them to drink the whiskey. The two of them confusingly drink it. When Weiss drank it, he was displeased, but he kept going anyway. 

"…So how about you two, sack up! And help me for once!" Owen bangs the table again to confuse the rest of the patrons and to give them another signal. 

William and Weiss noticed it. Weiss stands up and approaches the drunken group of contenders he saw when he entered. They are still singing and cheering together while harassing most people inside the tavern simultaneously. He got in close and shrugged one of them. The drunk patron turned irritated by this and grabbed Weiss. 

"Oi, where you goin', thick?" the patron provokes Weiss as he slouches towards him. 

"Me? I was going out; you fluttered muppet," Weiss remarks drunkenly. 

The patron broadens his chest, wrapping his sleeves. 

"Oh yeah, and now?" 

"…Well, now, I'm going to feed you your teeth," Weiss responds before punching the man's face. 

Instantly, Weiss's actions sparked a bar brawl inside the tavern. Stools were broken, bottles of glass were shattered, and the patron was vomiting. Some of the patrons left the pub, while the rest, for some odd reason, just joined the brawl, while the bartender ignored them all and continued to read without a bother. William and Owen participate in the fight, smacking a wooden stool at the nearby patron. The Knights' Mausoleum guards just looked and walked past the tavern, laughing or cheering the drunken patrons fighting. One of the patrons punched Owen and knocked him down flat with one hit. Owen even got the fish legs as he wobbled around like a legless person, completely plastered. William grabbed a parasol and began knocking people around with it, while Weiss went for the most prominent man among the drunken patrons and proceeded to hit him. It was complete chaos, but the guards outside watched, entertained by the sloppy movements and racial slurs during the fight. The most peculiar things happened during that bar fight among the drunken patrons. Glass was flying, and the smell of sweat and alcohol was everywhere. A drunk contender suddenly summoned a cow in the middle of the fight…and all began sparring with that cow.

Everyone was too plastered to move or knocked out when the brawl ended. The cow escaped into the island forest after successfully stomping others with its hooves. Weiss and William carried Owen out of the tavern. 

"-I'm surprised you (hicc) aren't drunk after (hicc) drinking whiskey for the first time, Weiss," William laughs. 

"I'm not sure why. But I do know one thing. You two are complete lightweights!" Weiss exulted, pumping his chest with confidence. 

"…Weiss. William…" the drunk Owen slurs, calling the two of them. 

"Yes?"

"…The deal is done…"

"What deal?" Weiss asks. 

"The…Underworld King. He…agreed to free you…but…" Owen mumbles. 

"…You have to fight…one…more match…"

William and Weiss smiled. 

"This is great news! I would have cheered…if I am not seeing double now…" William laughs. 

Weiss also laughed, at a loss for words as to what to say. The two savored their excitement for later. Their times as Homo Ferox will end. However…

"But…" Owen stopped their excitement. 

"-But what, Owen?" 

"…On…the condition that you…"

"Fight…the current Champion…that…"

"…That huge Orc…Ur-Hakon…" 

When the two of them heard that name, their smiles suddenly disappeared. 

"…I…I beg…bribe…him…to change…"

"But…no…"

"Don't…accept…"

"Please…" Owen begs the two of them not to accept this 'deal' that the current Underworld King proposed in exchange for their freedom. 

However, the two of them remained silent. 

"And…Weiss…"

"Yes?"

"…You got lucky…" Owen chuckles, referring to Weiss about his drinking. 

They chuckled for a while, and it ended up with Owen suddenly vomiting.

 * * * * *

"Hmm…Mmm…"

"Well, we'll be there in a few hours."

"Ahahaha….!" Boyd laughs triumphantly. 

Flare and Marcia are eating the food that Boyd has cooked. While traveling using two wild horses that Boyd managed to somehow 'obtain,' they decided to rest at what seems to be a recently abandoned camp. Boyd told them to rest while they could since where they were heading was an arid place with only one water source. Flare found it peculiar that Boyd was versed in the geographical condition of the island, but she decided to ask it later. Currently, she finds it bizarre that Boyd tells them that he will go after Weiss, even though he is the one who practically forced him to settle things with the Underworld King. Flare found a teary Marcia sitting far away from Boyd when she returned after her bath. She does not know what happened, but somehow, it is disrupting the pink-haired little girl. 

For some reason, Boyd is inspecting a hollowed-out tree stump near the camp, of all things. After studying for at least 10 seconds, he came back with a small pouch in his hand. 

"What's that?" Flare asks, intrigued. 

"Oh…Something?" Boyd pretends to be oblivious. 

"…I-I can't figure you out, Mr. Boyd," Marcia spoke timidly.

"Hmm?"

"…You pushed him to go settle things with that king. You forced him, but…why are you here? Why do all this?" she asks. 

"Woah, it helps to have someone to ask that question for me," Flare cheered inside her head. 

"…Hmm…Mmm…"

"I'd like to know the same thing," Boyd answers as if he is deflecting the question. 

"…Why-Why…Why…Why did I come here?" he mumbles to himself. 

"Are you…?" Flare intervenes, trying to ask his intentions. 

"Relax, Your Highness. I'm not planning on taking that stubborn brat back with me; I will not waste my time doing that. It's just that…"

"I'm just not going to let him die. Since that fool of a king always overdo things sometimes," Boyd states while untying the pouch. 

"…W-What?" Flare and Marcia both mutter, confused by the answer. 

"True, I forced him to fight with his uncle since he was so stubborn that it could miraculously change his life."

"I am sure he is aware…No. He thinks that settling things with his uncle will change everything. It would be either wonderful or terrible…," Boyd emphasizes. 

"…But not you?" Flare asks. 

"Ahahaha…"

"Do not mistake my lack of expression for ignorance, Your Highness," Boyd states, almost as if he is warning Flare rather than telling her. 

"As long as that stubborn brat is my student, I will not let him die. It is as simple as that," he adds, digging his hands inside the pouch. 

"Aha! Here it is!" Boyd punches the air triumphantly. 

Of course, the two girls looked at him, filled with awkwardness. 

"Wha…What is it?" Marcia asks, breaking the perplexing silence. 

Boyd approaches the two of them and hands over something to Flare. 

"I forced Weiss to write a letter of apology to you, Your Highness. If I may, you should see his face when I suggested it to him. It was beet red," Boyd chuckles. 

In his hand is a letter. There was no seal of anything. Just a piece of folded, musty, old paper with the words, 'To Princess Flare Edwen .'The words were written with a quill dipped in blank ink. Since Flare never saw Weiss write, she still determines whether that letter is actually from Weiss. Nevertheless, she took it anyway. However, Boyd quickly untied the horses before she could read it and told them they should keep moving. 

"Wha…?"

Flare finds Boyd's improper timing quite irritating since she wants to read the letter first. Tired, she soon gives in to Boyd's suggestion and sits on the second horse with Marcia while Boyd rides alone. The three of them then dash away from the camp on their horses, leaving only dust behind. 

…..

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island

Owen and Weiss had finally stopped running, and now they were next to the only water source on this side of the island. The lake was mixed with deep blue and bright green, and the atmosphere was peaceful. Despite having lilies and underwater plants underneath it, the lake was clear as crystal if left undisturbed. The sounds of fish leaping out for flies and slapping the water added more tint to the shining waters, and echoes of tweeting birds made this place feel like paradise compared to the plains and the mountains surrounding it. However, that peace is currently disturbed by the two men fighting for an unknown reason. 

Although they are in an immaculate, pristine lake, they are drenched in blood and sweat. Their presence was enough to scare away the local wildlife living around the lake. Even the fish slapping the water and the tweeting birds stopped making a sound. The deer, the tigers, and even the territorial hippopotamuses fled and sat far away from their water source. 

"…" 

 "I told you to come with everything you've got. Is that it, Weiss?" Owen asks, almost mocking him as the man frantically takes short breaths. 

However, Weiss didn't answer; he just looked at him with rage. 

"You want to tell me that I should've kept my nose out of your family, just like when you first met me?" Owen asks again. 

"…"

"Huh, just don't make anything that could make William and yourself suffer anymore," Owen adds. 

"You're the one who made him suffer, Owen. You'd given him, and I hope, and look where it ended now," Weiss hisses, gripping his sword tighter. 

Owen sighs and pulls out the axe that he has sheathed. 

"…I've taken the responsibility to save the two of you before, and it looks like now, I've decided to take along the job of babysitting you, Weiss," Owen states, pointing his index finger at Weiss. 

Weiss's eyes widened. His bewildered face looks at Owen, taken aback by his words. His body slightly jolted when he heard that, but that body movement and facial expression quickly turned into rage as he looked at Owen, burned with rage. His brows bump together in a scowl as he groans. 

"Again, try throwing everything you picked up to defeat me and give me everything you got-."

"Your fantasies, your hard work, and your desire to see my head beneath your foot, I am going to trample them over as your uncle," Owen points his axe at Weiss. 

"-That's how worthless your rage is!" he states. 

Instantly after Weiss heard this, his eyes beamed at Owen, and he lunged towards him. His muscles tensed up, and energy transferred to his unsheathed great sword. He is preparing for an all-out frontal attack. 

"Didn't you hear me?!" 

"I told you, you'll be dead, Baldy!" Weiss shouts, swinging his sword at full might. 

However, Owen instantly unsheathes his other axe and blocks the full attack with his left arm. The axe is small compared to Weiss's great sword, but it managed to secure his full episode without breaking into two. Owen is slightly pushed sideways to the right due to the vast amount of energy Weiss puts into that single attack. 

"…Didn't you hear me?" Owen asks, looking at Weiss with enraged eyes. 

"I told you to come at me with everything you got!" Owen shouts back and quickly attempts to cleave Weiss with the axe in his right hand. 

Sensing the danger, Weiss quickly unsheathes his dagger and blocks the attack. However, he partially blocked the axe since he hastily used most of his energy to his full-front attack. Although his jagged, parrying dagger didn't break into two, the axe's blade was more expansive compared to the dagger's ability to block. The result is that he was blasted backward away from Owen with a cut on his left arm. 

"Is that all you've got, nephew?"

"You could never beat me with an attack like that," Owen states. 

"You thought you were about to kill me, but your fists are filled with doubt. Doubt from your brother, from your blood." 

"You're as empty as those Husks out there!"

"That's why you wanted to find a purpose for yourself, like killing me…"

"-But with those weak fists, you couldn't blow away my wig, let alone me," Owen declares. 

Weiss instantly reroutes his energy to normal and immediately lunges toward Owen with the dagger in front. When he lands on the ground, he stabs and plants the dagger and uses it as a wedge, similar to how he used it when fighting Flare. However, instead of doing a sideways slide attack, he uses the wedge as a fulcrum, launches himself into the air, and does a summersault slash. Owen was prepared for this since he observed his attack patterns from above during that match. 

"You want to kill me?"

"You don't need to waste yourself with such worthless goals…"

Owen uses both his arms and blocks the attack. 

"You whiny, self-absorbed son of a bitch!"