Chapter 10-3

Riku's body started to distort and glitch somewhat as he charged his magic in his hand. "Is that light magic..? He does have elemental magic...but something seems off..." Aina muttered, Riku glaring at them all.

"Hit the deck!" Kana grabbed Seto's and Aina's heads, pulling them both to the ground. Riku fired his magic, a beam that was a mix of blues with strange white and grey squares surrounding it in places, making the beam look glitched and distorted, right as they dropped. He barely missed them, his beam hitting the wall behind them instead. Oddly enough, it didn't explode. Instead, the same thing that happened with all of Aina's beams happened to the entire wall of the house. However, instead of completely fading, the digital like cubes flew over to Riku, breaking down and seemingly entering his body.

Seto looked back to see the wall was, then he looked at Riku, and lastly at Kana. "My instincts told me...to avoid..." Kana stared at Riku, keeping her guard up.

"That isn't elemental magic..." Seto muttered as he stood up, staring at Riku as well. "No wonder this guy didn't know who the fuck we were before..." He thought, growing suspicious. "Who the hell are you?!" Seto yelled at Riku.

Riku glared at him as he thought, "Now that I've unlocked my magic, trouble's bound to stir at every turn..." He then spoke aloud. "I'm Riku Fumiya, Seto." He took a stance with his blades.

"Everything about him looks and feels the same...but people can't just change their magic like that. This guy can't be the same person..." Seto thought to himself before saying, "I guess I'll just report it to them after we're done here..." He held up his hand, Makou's sword floating at his side.

"You won't be reporting anything to anyone." In the blink of an eye, Riku was right in front of Seto. "I mean, you're about to be dead." Riku thrusted the training blade into Seto's gut.

Seto gasped as he had the wind knocked out of him. "When did he..?"

"Teleportation..?!" Kana went to kick Riku.

"Not exactly..." Her leg went through Riku completely, his body distorting and glitching heavily. It was like he was only a projection. Kana's eyes widened and she jumped back, Riku's glitching coming to a stop when she did. He spun around and kicked Seto in the face, sending him flying outside. Seto crashed and tumbled to the ground, landing on his back, coughing, and holding his gut still.

"What are you..?!" Kana growled and Aina prepared her magic.

Riku slowly smirked, looking back at the two of them. "Your worst nightmare, soon enough..." Both of them froze and trembled from the menacing aura they felt coming off of him.

The children stared at Riku, getting a bit frightened themselves. "What's wrong with Riku, Haruto..?"

"I-I don't know..." He held his sister close, in a protective manner.

Riku glitched again, appearing between the two girls. Both turned quickly, but weren't fast enough. Kana received a jab from one of Riku's training blades to her side and Aina was hit by a thin beam of Riku's distorted beam at point blank, sending her crashing into a wall. Her body didn't break apart like the wall or her magic did. However, the beam did injure her, having burnt the cloth over her stomach and burned her skin slightly, as if she had just been hit by a beam of plasma.

Kana coughed and held her side, kneeling slightly. "H-How is he so strong all of a sudden..?" Kana looked to Aina, who had passed out. "A-Aina..!" She yelled to her friend. Riku began walking toward Aina, Kana standing up and turning her whole body into steel. "Don't you touch her..!"

Riku glitched, appearing in front of Kana. "You're wide open." He palmed her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her completely even though her body was now made of metal. The attack bruised Riku's hand, but he didn't let any type of pain show on his face. Kana's pupils dilated before her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, now knocked out as well.

Seto watched Riku, gritting his teeth and glaring viciously. "Y-You son of a..." He began to stand up. Riku clenched his fists tightly and glitched to Seto, punching him in the face with the back of his hand, causing Seto to go flying into the wall of the next closet building. Seto yelled out in pain, coughing up a bit of blood.

Riku appeared in front of him, pinning him to the wall by his neck and glaring directly into his eyes. "After killing a mother, father, and almost a child, you have the audacity to try and call me a son of a bitch?" Riku's voice was slightly distorted, making it sound darker than it should. Seto froze, actually starting to tremble a bit. The blade of Riku's left gauntlet started to glow, distorting slightly as it was covered by Riku's magic. Riku's magic actually changed the blade into an actual energy blade. He brought his arm back, holding the blade a few inches away from Seto's stomach. "I oughta cut you open and watch your guts spill out you bastard..." He whispered so only Seto could hear.

"Riku! Stop!" He felt a tug at his leg, then one on his his other leg. He glanced back slowly, his eyes dark and vicious. He saw Haruto and Gina hugging his legs, tears in their eyes. "Y-You said heroes...don't do these kinds of things... You said they're kind and help everyone... T-That means they shouldn't do things like this to people even if they're evil, heartless killers!" Haruto cried.

Riku blinked, staring at the boy for a moment before looking at the girl. Gina sniffled. "Riku...you're scaring me... Please go back to being your nice self... Mommy and Daddy...wouldn't want this..." Riku's eyes widened slightly at her words and he clenched his head, groaning at the head-splitting headache he suddenly had. He had the urge to kill and torture all three of the members of Seto's group for the things they did, but this wasn't like him, he'd never do something like that.

Riku's blade returned to its original state and he dropped Seto. "Y-You're right... This isn't like me...at all..." He looked down at Seto, who was wide eyed and filled with fear. "I'm not like you...heartless...monsters..!" He growled, his voice cracking slightly as tears filled his eyes at the thought of Reina and Makou's bodies. He turned and lifted up both of the children. "Come on, we need to get out of here..." He muttered and the children smiled, nodding their heads. They both hugged him and he hugged them in return, glad they were both unhurt.

Seto slowly clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "Me..? Afraid of this faker..? Me..?!" He held out his hand and Riku's legs were suddenly impaled by Seto's spikes. Riku's eyes widened in pain. "Nngah!" He fell backwards, holding the children close so they wouldn't get hurt, landing on his back with a grunt.

"Riku!" The children cried.

Seto started to laugh, slowly standing up. "You're a fool..! You should've at least knocked me out you moron!" He held out his hand, Makou's sword floating at his side. "And now you're gonna die because you were too stupid to think of doing it, as well as those stupid brats!"

Riku grit his teeth and rolled over, holding himself over the kids protectively. "I'm sorry..." Both the children's eyes filled with tears.

"Noooooo!" Gina cried out.

Riku closed his eyes, prepared to be stabbed. He heard the sword zip through the air, but he didn't feel it pierce him. He opened his eyes slowly, the children's eyes wide and their mouths gapped open. He looked back, seeing the sword stopped in place. His own eyes widened and he looked at Seto, whose eyes were just as wide as the children's.

Riku then looked to his right to see Makou, standing, holding his hand over his stab wound. "Never...take your eyes...off your enemy...you damned brat..." The sword was pulled from Seto's control and flew around him, the blunt side of the sword hitting the back of Seto's head so hard it made a loud clanging sound. Seto's eyes went white and he fell, knocked out. Riku heard all of this, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Makou, shocked he was even still alive, but felt his heart sink. Makou's wounds were bad, and there was no time to get him to a healer. He was still going to die, and Riku was going to have to watch it happen.

Makou fell to his knees and Riku, Haruto, and Gina ran over to him immediately.

"Daddy!"

"Makou!"

They all cried out in unison, Riku glitching over and catching Makou before he fell completely, gently laying him on his back.

"I knew you'd come kid..." Makou panted, coughing.

"D-Don't talk, w-we can still...we can do something!"

"Kid, we both know I ain't got much longer... Don't make it harder please..." He coughed again. Riku's eyes filled with tears and his children simply buried their heads in his stomach, crying, and Makou gently rubbed their heads. "Come on, don't cry kiddos..." They couldn't even hear his voice, too overcome by grief. Riku hiccuped, but kept himself from crying or letting his tears spill. "Hey Riku...you'll take care of my kids...right..?"

"O-Of course I will, M-Makou..." Riku clenched his fists.

Makou looked over at his wife, sadness filling his eyes. "It hurt so much to watch her die... There was nothing I could do..."

Riku grit his teeth and glitched over to Reina, lifting up her body and moving back over to Makou, laying her beside him. Makou gently placed his hand on her cheek. "She's cold, but still beautiful..." He smiled, looking up toward the sky. "When you...find a girl...promise you'll protect her... Don't fail like me..."

"I-I promise..." Riku wasn't even really thinking. He never thought he'd even get a girlfriend, much less a wife and children. Though in this moment, if there was even a possibility to Makou's words, Riku would swear on his life to follow through with his promises.

"You never told me...but you don't have a real family...do you..?" Riku didn't respond this time. "I'm sorry...we couldn't be your family...for very long..." Makou smiled, the light in his eyes starting to fade.

"M-Makou..!" Riku's voice cracked and he grabbed Makou's hand, clenching it tightly and he was unable to keep his tears from falling any longer.

"Last promise... Promise me...you'll do your best...to find a good group of people...and be happy...even if we're gone... Don't be cruel...and keep smiling..."

"I-I promise... I promise..! So please..." Riku smiled as the tears continued to spill out. The light in Makou's eyes had completely faded, his skin cold, though he was still smiling. Riku's lips quivered and his smile faded, pressing his forehead against Makou's chest as he cried out. "DON'T GOOOO!!!" All the memories they shared flashed through his mind, Riku remembering how happy he was, happier than he had ever really been in his life. He and the children cried, the children hugging Riku and Riku hugging them in return, tight and close, all while mourning the deaths of the two parents.

Artemis, who had seen the smoke from afar now that there was so much, was running through the slums, fighting off heroes. She had knocked out a few, but was starting to get tired. She heard the crying of children and began to run to it, stopping as she saw Riku and the children. "No... He meant...here..?" She clenched her fists slightly as she stared at the dead bodies of the two adults, gritting her teeth. "They're gonna pay for this..."

Konba walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "When do we tell him?" He looked to Riku, his eyes filled with sympathy.

Artemis' eyes were sad as well as she stared at Riku's back. "When he's ready... Even if it's not that Riku...he's still Riku Fumiya and he's suffered. He'll be a powerful ally..." The three continued to cry, their cries fading out along with the setting sun.