Mastermind Behind The Flames

"I'm surprised you saw through my disguise so quickly," Clyde said. Skin started melting off of his body to reveal another body, wrapped in bandages all over that were bloodied with wounds and an older-looking facial structure with a confident personality. He had blood-red eyes and brown, short hair, reminiscent of Faith.

"You're an Asterio... I can see it in your eyes, those damn blood-red eyes..." Boo muttered.

I put my hand on her shoulder and tightened it, shaking my head. "Hold back for now, he doesn't deserve your attention yet," I said to her, but I barely got through.

"It's to my understanding that my sister, Illya Asterio, had taken everything from you. Is that right, Buusu Achamo?" Clyde asked Boo. I was worried about where this was going.

"More than everything. Are you gonna try to recruit me? Good luck," Boo suggested, but Clyde smiled.

"Hikari, scan her mind," Clyde said.

From the bushes to our right, a girl in a white dress with bright pale-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that would put Sky's to shame. She put her hand up and opened her bright eyes that shifted into a darker blue color, all while saying a weird phrase.

"SYSTEM LOGOUT," She said. It was a mumble, but it felt as loud as possible right up in my ear.

It felt like my consciousness was wiped from my head, but thanks to Chi-Chi's kindness, I was held up, able to reclaim my mind before it was wiped away.

Boo, on the other hand, fell to the ground violently with her eyes stuck open, looking at the sky.

"Boo?! Hey! Boo!" I screamed out, turning back to the girl named Hikari.

"You can resist? Oh... I understand..." She muttered again.

"Do you know what System Logout does, Shike?" Clyde asked me. I crouched down beside Boo and looked at her all over.

She wasn't even breathing...

"System Logout is an ability, to say the least. It permanently shuts off a person and causes their soul to be set free from the confines of their mortal body. Pretty awesome, right? Well... Asterios who have the White Stone are immune to it, but Achamos aren't... don't you want Boo to stay alive?" Clyde asked me.

He walked up the slope, moving toward me, and Hikari followed right behind him. He looked down at me, watching Boo's lifeless body shift while I shook in fear.

"Revive Boo... or I'll kill you," I told him.

What I felt couldn't be expressed. Holding her lifeless corpse in my arms caused me to feel something insanely powerful. Something... evil...

My personality shifted, I couldn't think straight as I looked down at her face. The position her body was in now caused her mouth to shift into an open form, and I felt even more violent while the rest of my body processed that this girl named Hikari killed Boo with two words. Something she shouldn't die to.

"REVIVE HER!" I screamed at Clyde, feeling a hint of distortion in my voice.

"Oh, I will, but first, I want to see how willing you are... you have some choices," He said, throwing a dagger down at the floor in front of me.

"If you kill Chi-Chi or Asoh, I'll revive Boo," He said. However, before he could finish his final thought, I pulled the dagger out of the ground and swiped it at his throat.

That girl named Hikari took the hit with the palm of her hand, piercing through it and causing blood to drip down her perfect white dress.

"You... injured Hikari?" Clyde mumbled.

"Master, I cannot predict this entity. We must leave," Hikari said, retreating backward with my dagger still lodged in her hand.

"Just for that... I'll play your game. Shike, if you get on your hands and knees and beg, I might just revive Boo..." Clyde told me.

I dropped to my hands and knees, bowing my head as deep as it would go, begging Clyde to revive Boo. While my head was pushed down, I felt a sword slide through my left arm.

It cut through the bone like a hot knife through butter, and the arm was taken from beside me, picked up by Hikari, and examined thoroughly.

Hikari put the White Stone on my left hand up to her left eye and blinked a few times while gazing inward, then with a snap of her fingers, Boo started to shift in her body, and gasp for air after turning sufficiently blue.

I had no idea what happened here, but Hikari through my severed arm onto the floor with a wet smack, and walked off with Clyde.

"Until next time, Shike... hopefully you'll show me something as exciting as what I just saw once more..." Clyde said, walking off into the bushes.

"Shike... Boo... are you two okay?" Chi-Chi asked us.

I watched Boo slowly recover from death, looking up at the sky while panting.

"Hey... are you alright Boo?" I asked her. She nervously looked around everywhere, focusing on me, and then slowing her breathing, following it all with a slight nod.

"What the hell just happened?" She asked in a weakened tone, holding her hand close to her chest.

"Clyde did something... his assistant, that girl with the bright blonde hair, she said two words and you just... died... we can't mess with them anymore," I told her.

I repaired my left arm with strands, but looking down at my hand, I realized that my White Stone was missing...

On Boo's right hand stood a second White Stone.

"What the hell...?" She asked herself. I was right there with her, wondering if I lost my ability permanently.

I smacked the ground and absorbed the kinetic energy without any difficulty... the only difference was that I no longer had a White Stone.

"Let's get out of here, quickly," Asoh said, pushing us to move as fast as possible. I got up and carried Boo, refusing to let her walk on her own.