[1] TOUGH AS A DRAGON // RYUZIO

Ryuzio was tough as a dragon.

He wasn't scared even a bit to stand against the white-haired man leading an oncoming group of ten men. Ryuzio was so tough that he smiled at them, pointing the tip of his dull blade at the approaching Volant squad. The group stopped in their tracks, ridiculous grins on those familiar faces.

"Just watch me!" Ryuzio said, locking eyes with their captain. "I'm tough as a dragon! After this, you'll HAVE to take me into your squad, Captain!"

Zyon laughed, thinning his blue eyes. "This again? You never give up, do you, Zio?"

"Today's the day I beat you, captain!" Ryuzio said with resolve. "I WILL soar through the Eight Skies! Just watch me!" Ryuzio had tried again and again, but Zyon had beaten him in everything. Be it eating, running, tree-climbing, lifting…

The squadmates of the white-haired Volant save for Brythe and Erixon shared chuckles in the clearing before Melga's restaurant. Ryuzio ignored all of them as he walked closer to Zyon.

"You should absolutely stop this mess already, Zyon," said Brythe, the brown-skinned and taller Volant. He had blond hair that darkened to a deep purple toward the ends, the sides of his head being faded. "I'm concerned for the kid, you know."

Zyon chuckled, scratching the metallic plate of his headband. "We can use some entertainment in this boring place, yeah? It's not like he's hurting anyone."

"Draw your weapon, Captain!" Ryuzio said, pointing the tip of his blade toward the Volant's light-skinned face. "I'm warning you, today I'm awesomely serious!" He'd lost in everything so far, but he'd win today. For this day's contest, Ryuzio had picked dueling.

Erixon sighed. He did that a lot. He had hair similar to Ryuzio's, jet black and wild, though in Erixon's case, his lack of sleep was to be blamed. He'd had those dark bags under his eyes ever since Ryuzio had first met him with Zyon and the rest of their squad in Melga's restaurant some two weeks before.

Ryuzio had been eight, then. Now he was tougher than an 8-year-old! But one thing he still didn't know as a 9-year-old was the reason for Erixon wearing clothes loose like pajamas when he had eyes like that? A man of mysteries and ghost-pale skin, Erixon was.

"If anything happens," Erixon said dryly, "you're taking responsibility, Zyon."

"Why are you acting like he's going to win?" Ryuzio shouted at him. "Don't you two also want me in the squad?"

Brythe shrugged. "Of course. You said you'd earn your spot. I assume you're dueling today, so beat this old man to a pulp and I'll absolutely welcome you personally."

"You were against the idea just a moment ago," Zyon said loudly to his squadmate. "And my hair is natural, unlike yours!"

Brythe rolled his eyes away, standing with his arms crossed. "Don't absolutely embarrass yourself."

"What do you even mean?" Zyon said, baffled. "Your hair can't be natural!"

Ryuzio stomped on the ground. "What is wrong with you all? Why are you not paying attention?" He looked around. "The others have already left?"

"Oh, man," Zyon said, rolling up the sleeves of his white buttoned shirt, which he wore under the coat hanging on his shoulders. "I'm getting hungry too. Let's race to Melga's."

Klanta wasn't exactly a big village, and being surrounded by a forest to the east and mountains to the west isolated it from the main cities and other villages of the same skybranch. A Volant squad coming here was nothing short of a miracle.

Ryuzio was also hungry, he would've loved to have a bunmeat, but going to Melga's would mean turning around. He would not turn his back on his dream. He'd face Zyon head on. Even if it meant waiting for a bunmeat!

"No one is going anywhere!" Ryuzio declared with resolve. "Not until I defeat your Captain!"

Zyon smiled mischievously. "Oh, so you're going to beat me, yeah?" He puffed out his chest, looking down on Ryuzio, blue eyes almost gleaming.

Sweat trailed down Ryuzio's cheek. "Y-Yeah!"

Zyon moved closer to Brythe, and Ryuzio knew this was bad. Zyon would borrow the 6-feet sword that Brythe always carried behind his back, which was more like a thick slab of iron than anything. Zyon stopped behind Brythe. It would be tough to—

Zyon shrunk behind his squadmate, peeking from over the taller man's shoulder. "You serious?" he said, using Brythe as cover. "Can't we just talk it out? Violence is bad, yeah?"

Brythe shook his head in embarrassment.

Ryuzio's face reddened. "You're supposed to be their Captain!"

Erixon squatted to come down to Ryuzio's eye level. "We don't even need to calculate the outcome of a thing such as this. There's not a single chance for a 9-year-old to beat a man almost twenty years older than him. And I'm not even going to go into factors other than age, because they're simply too unnecessary for an equation such as this."

Ryuzio picked his nose with a pinky. "Heh?"

Erixon sighed. "You're going to get hurt if you keep this up."

"I'm not expecting Captain to be a weakling," Ryuzio said simply. "Of course I'm going to get hurt. But I'll beat him! And then I'll go the Skies!"

"Why do you want to go the Skies so badly?" Erixon asked. "All you ever talk about is the Skies. I feel old just listening to you."

Ryuzio looked up at the starry sky. Even though Klanta was below the Sea of Clouds, the night sky was almost always clear above the village. "How should I put it?"

"Let's just relax," Brythe suggested, "and have an absolutely healthy party at Melga's restaurant, alright?"

Ryuzio tucked his chin sharply. "I'm done with you all! Stop treating me like a little kid!" He charged at Zyon, blade pulled back.

"Whoa, Zio," Zyon said with a faint smile. "Ain't you a fast one!"

Ryuzio swung, aiming for Zyon's belly.

Zyon took a step back, the blade slicing empty air.

Ryuzio stepped closer, swinging his blade upward—

"What's that?" Zyon said, squatted beside Ryuzio. "I'm right here."

Ryuzio flinched. He gulped before deciding his next move. "You don't believe in me, do you? You think that I can't go the Skies, yeah?"

Zyon tilted his head, scratching a cheek. "That's not the case."

"Then take me seriously!" Ryuzio shouted, swinging rightward. Zyon wasn't there.

"If that's what you mean by believing in you," Zyon said, "then you got it!"

Ryuzio turned, only to find Zyon looming over him. He was starting to sweat after finding Zyon so close to him. This wasn't the playful Zyon who sat next to him in Melga's restaurant. No… This was the Captain of a Volant squad, someone who soared through the Eight Skies, sailed the Sea of Clouds.

But Ryuzio couldn't back down now. For his dream, he had to defeat Zyon. So he gritted his teeth and swung—

Zyon leaned closer, not removing eye contact with him.

Ryuzio gripped his blade tightly, and an instinctive yell leapt out of his mouth. In mid-swing, he found the edge of his dull blade burning with a hot scarlet blaze. Zyon's eyes also followed the burning edge, but he himself remained still.

Too late, for Ryuzio could not stop himself.

'No! I don't wanna hurt Zyon!' Ryuzio panicked—

The blade struck the leaning man above his left eye, the clash of the metal of Ryuzio's blade and Zyon's headband plate releasing a loud clang.

'Why didn't he move?' The blade dulled back a second later.

Ryuzio's swing failed to put even a scratch on Zyon's headband plate. Ryuzio stood still for the next moment, jaw set, frustrated at his failure. But he would try again. And again, and again, until he'd defeated Zyon—

Perhaps the energy from the strike was too weak to move any further, so the impact rebounded. Ryuzio's eyes widened as he saw a crescent shaped energy slash of burning red hue shooting towards his face.

"Duck, Ryuzio!"

All this had been in a split-second from when Ryuzio had first seen his blade's edge burning—

The shallow impact punched his face, knocking him away from Zyon. Ryuzio's arm flung outward, the grip on his blade loosening. He slammed to the ground, air choking out of his lungs, blade gone from his right hand.

Ryuzio grimaced in pain under the starlight, the cut across the bridge of his nose leaking tears of his pride. It was true that pride cried crimson.

Zyon rushed to him just as Ryuzio fell back to the ground, pulling him onto his butt. "Ryuzio, you okay? Does it hurt?"

Ryuzio felt very light-headed. He had taken much worse impacts than this from his grandma, and Melga, and… Wait…why was Zyon still treating him like a little kid? Ryuzio did not win, but how many kids could go up against a grown-up Volant? None. Did Zyon not care—?

"Brythe," Zyon said with urgency in his tone. "Get Klen."

Brythe sighed. "On it."

"See what we meant?" Erixon said, joining Brythe.

"But it's not something Klen can't fix, yeah?" Zyon said with a pinch of panic. "Right, you guys?"

"Depends on where the damage went," Erixon said flatly. "Doesn't seem to me that it penetrated past the Ethershell. But then again, I'm not the doctor."

"So it wasn't just my imagination, then… Fluck!" Zyon muttered. "His strike was reinforced with his latent Ether. He took an Ether-enhanced attack without any guard!"

"It was very weak," Erixon said before jogging off, "and active only for a few moments. Let's just hope that some of his Ether sponged the blow and shielded his Ethercrux."

"But if it didn't…" Zyon said with a wince. "I'm so flucking dumb!"

"Why?" Ryuzio said with a soft groan, tears forming in his eyes. "Why're you blaming yourself? I challenged you. I failed. It wasn't your fault. I was just not strong enough."

"You're plenty strong," Zyon said, meeting his eyes. "Just look at how much damage your single strike did!"

"I couldn't even touch you…" Ryuzio sobbed. "I…I'm so weak…"

Zyon squeezed together Ryuzio's cheeks. "Don't compare yourself to me. When you get as big as me, you'll be stronger than anyone."

'His lips are moving…but why isn't he saying anything?' Ryuzio thought, vision wobbling.

"Ryuzio?" Zyon gulped. "Huh? Don't tell me…" He placed a hand on Ryuzio's chest and his expression darkened as he gulped. Ryuzio had never seen Zyon like this. It was awesomely weird to see Zyon without a smile on his face.

'My head is ringing… It hurts…not just body…'

Ryuzio blinked, Zyon was gone, leaving him on the ground. All Ryuzio could see now was the stars. And they were just as they had always been. So far away. He also noticed the recently grown population of fireflies resting on the trees, like many glowing dots of bright green. Zyon returned shortly, smiling.

"Hold this, Zio," Zyon said, putting something on Ryuzio's hand. "Soon as Klen comes, you'll be up in no time."

Ryuzio felt something sharply cut and lightweight in his hand, like a lump of glass carved in a very rough manner.

"Any better?" Zyon asked.

"Captain…"

"Yeah, I'm here."

Ryuzio gulped, head throbbing. "If I get tougher, will you take me into your squad?"

Zyon blinked, as if utterly surprised. "What're you even…?"

Ryuzio could barely mutter properly. "Will…you let me…join your squad?"

Zyon inhaled, closing his eyes. "No," he said with a smile on his face.

Ryuzio's eyes widened as he met Zyon's blue eyes. The starlight seemed to have grown brighter somehow, making the expression of white-haired Volant even clearer.

"Wasn't it you who said that he'd beat me to earn a place in my squad?" Zyon said simply. "Just because you're down, doesn't mean you can't get up, okay? Your dream is to become a Volant, not to join my squad. Or have you given up on both?"

The tears forming in Ryuzio's eyes trailed down his cheeks.

"What's this?" Zyon said. "I thought you were tough as a dragon."

Ryuzio tried his best to stop the tears, at least the ones which were not red. 'Zyon… He believes in…'

"Well…" Zyon looked around, as if searching for someone. "You always wanted to know the Sky King's final words, yeah?" he said, looking into Ryuzio's eyes. "Now listen close as I tell you the story of that day."

'Why now? I can barely even listen to you, Captain.' But the pain was fading…the one Ryuzio didn't quite understand, the strange pain, the one that was not only hurting his body…but also his soul.

"Don't worry," Zyon said with a smile. "I remember those words as if I heard them yesterday."

Ryuzio blinked. 'But that video is the most illegallest thing ever… Just how many times did you watch it?' The video of the Sky King's execution had been banned throughout Highplexia years ago because of the final words of the greatest Volant.

"It happened around 11 years ago, Zio," Zyon said, as if reminiscing about a good time. "That's when the man called the Sky King was executed. But with his fall, he shook the entire world. His final words boomed throughout the Eight Skies like an omnipresent tempest."

'Captain turned into Erixon…' Though the words were big, Ryuzio found himself being captivated by the story.

"You always wanted me to tell you his final words, yeah?" Zyon said, smiling. "Here they are: The Offering to Behemoth's Heart is…"