Chapter 11 - Phoenix

Kurayami stays calm, while Akio kneels and falls on his hands, crying. "Damn it all! Why.. why again!?" He screams, as Kurayami looks at him, now tearing up. "Akio.. stand up." He looks at her, with a a gaze of sadness and anger, as she has a look of unease, staring in front of them.

Akio turns to look at what Kurayami is looking, and he is shocked. In front of them stands a soldier, with his presence making Akio and Kurayami feel far heavier. They look at each other and nod, as Akio stands up.

Before he is able to get off his knees, though, he is hit in the back by one of the soldier's subordinates. Kurayami punches the soldier, as Akio is actually stabbed, but he manages to cauterize the wound with his fire magic, as Kurayami helps him stand up, somewhat blushing when holding his hand again.

He thanks her for the help, and turns back to the soldier, as he takes out Durandal. The soldier appears to be unfazed. Bored, even. He lets his subordinates attack the two, and they have an easy time taking them out, as the soldier grins, getting up.

Kurayami and Akio once again kneel due to the imposed gravity, but their kneecaps and the ground break, as Akio is surprised at how heavy this gravity is. The soldier comes closer, telling them that they have made a grave mistake, coming here.

"First, I'll kill this young woman and then you, Phoenix. After that, I may have fun torturing her."

Akio is fuming. The soldier raises his weapon, presumably prepared to kill Kurayami, who is heavily breathing and her eyes are flickering.

As he lowers his weapon, Kurayami whispers:

"Please.. stop.."

As she utters these words, a bright flash of orange blinds everyone, and as it clears out, Akio has caught the weapon inches away from Kurayami's head, who's still crying and surprised, her eyes widened. Akio has a stern look in his face.

"Take.. your weapon.. away."

The soldier laughs, telling Akio that he cannot be serious.

"I said.. take it.. AWAY!"

Akio shouts, with wings slightly appearing in his back, and his hair and eyes having turned into a brighter shade of orange. The soldier takes a step back, and Akio breaks his weapon, catching the broken edge and stabbing the soldier in the chest with it.

"I told you.. to take it away."

He shoves the edge harder in the soldier, who writhes in pain, as blood comes out of his mouth. Akio takes his head and hits it to the ground multiple times, until it is finally destroyed, and he turns to Kurayami.

"Are you okay.. Kurayami?" He asked, and Kurayami nodded, but she sees that Akio is clearly not. Seconds later, he kneels and manages to barely stand with the help of Durandal, but he also slightly spits blood, to which Kurayami gets to him and holds him.

"Akio!" She screamed, as she looks at his torso. The soldier had somehow stabbed him without Akio knowing, and he wasn't fast enough to use his magic to heal it. This time, they didn't have anything to heal themselves, since they didn't think they need it, so they're forced to find for something in the remains of the province.

Kurayami searched, but to no avail. Each passing second felt like millennia for both of them. As she was about to give up, in the corner of her eye, she saw something. A.. potion? It was the first time that she had came across this, but it says that it can heal any wounds, so she risks it all, with this being her only choice.

She open's Akio's mouth carefully and has him drink the potion. At first, it seemed like nothing happened, and Kurayami silently cried, thinking that Akio would die, but moments later he stands up. "Thank you, Kurayami. You saved me."

He smiled and continued to thank Kurayami, who could only resist the temptation to hug him. She helped Akio stand up and they looked around. Akio opens his watch and calls Alex, who recites their mission to them.

Apparently, their goal was not to save the province, but to defeat the enemies, and so they did. They do report the fact that Akio had possibly awakened Phoenix magic for a very short amount of time, though, and Alex appears to be somewhat fazed by this.

The two are instructed to return, and so they do. Akio is sent to the medical section for examinations, while Kurayami simply follows him, as she's quite worried. After a quick examination, it seems as though Akio is fine, and they go back to each their respective dormitories.

Akio changes to his indoor clothing and sits on his bed, thinking about a few stuff, and he recalls the scene that he had seen in the province. Nobody was alive, though he could have prevented it, if only he had done something sooner..

He gets up and exits his dorm, as he goes to the training area, to the place with the punching bags. Akio comes closer, imbuing his fists with fire magic, as they burn bright. He reaches them and instantly starts pummeling each and every one of them, as he apparently is very angry.

Minutes later, he destroys each and every one punching bag, as he seemingly cannot satiate his anger. He notices a punching bag that is mostly in tact, though, which surprises him, but he decides that he'll use it. Moments pass, and he punches it with every ounce of his strength until it turns to nothingness.

As he realizes that it's a waste of time, Akio goes back to his dorm, only to be greeted by a surprise guest. "Akio.. I was.. waiting for you.." The stranger was none other than Kurayami herself. She gets up and walks up to Akio, as the next day comes around.

The boy wakes up in his bed, remembering that he had not put on his shirt after his "training" last night, so he decides to put it on. Outside, he goes to the training area, struggling to remember what had happened after he came to his dorm and met Kurayami.

In the training area, it becomes apparent that there are once again no training sessions for today, as everyone is scattered. Akio notices Blaze, who's just sitting, and he walks up to him. Blaze greets him, and Akio returns the greeting, asking him what's going on.

Blaze says that it is nothing, just the fact that he feels weak. Akio is confused. "What do you mean, Blaze? You're strong. Hell, in my current state, I bet that we would be equal!" With this announcement, Blaze's face brightens up and he laughs, now confident.

He puts his hand on Akio's shoulder and thanks him for the much-needed boost in confidence, as Akio himself forgets what he had wanted to ask Blaze, leaving to go eat. Akio then meets Aurora in the cafeteria, who greets him, albeit somewhat drunk.

Akio is very much confused at that sight, since as far as he's aware, Aurora isn't the one to get drunk. Valeria appears and tells him that it's a result of her crystal magic. For some reason, at random, when having her magic activated, Aurora becomes 'drunk'.

Valeria tells the young boy that she has yet to find a way to circumvent this effect, and Akio asks her to try something. She green lights his idea, though telling him that nothing will work, but he knows. he places his hands on Aurora's chest and starts burning her body, similar to what he had done for Theos.

Seeing this, Valeria is alerted and reaches out her hand to Akio, telling him to stop, but as she does so he stops using his fire magic and Aurora becomes normal. The two thank Akio, who nods and grabs a banana to eat, going outside.

This time, he sees no one, so he sighs in relief, as he takes a seat and looks at the scenery beyond. Such serenity, a peaceful and beautiful atmosphere. Naturally, Akio knows well that this will change for the worse if he doesn't train.

And so, he gets up, deciding that there's no time to waste, he goes back to the training area. As he goes there, he passes by the swimming pool, but pays no attention to it, thinking that nobody would be there during the Spring.

To his very surprise, though, there was someone, and they called out to him. "Akio!" The voice, naturally, would belong to none other than Kurayami, who, for some reason, is swimming at this time of the year?

Akio greets her and asks her what she's doing here. Kurayami replies that she was instructed to do so by their teachers, since the pool has a special substance that disintegrates negative magic molecules, and it could help her condition.

Akio does not offer his services to Kurayami this time around, since it's not a problem similar to Aurora's. For now, though, he's trying not to look at Kurayami's body, since he respects her, though he can't help but notice that she herself has scars.

"...Kurayami? These scars of yours.." He started saying, but Kurayami cut him off. "Oh, these? They suddenly appeared on my body a while after I was taken in, though nobody knows why. However, when I touch them.."

It does not go unnoticed by Akio that Kurayami is too uncomfortable to move on with this conversation, and he thanks her for the information, though he apologizes for asking. Kurayami tells him that it's fine, and Akio leaves.

Minutes later, he remembers that he had also wanted to ask her about the events of that night, though he keeps it to himself and continues to go train. Fortunately for him, Blaze is still there, so he will have a training partner.

"Hey, Blaze! Do you want to spar with me? It'll be quick, I promise." Akio had asked Blaze, who turned at him, with a grin on his face. As expected, he agrees, and the two take their fighting stances.

Both Blaze and Akio charge at each other, their fists connecting, making the ground below them tremble. They exchange a few more hits before Akio punches Blaze is in the face, sending him back. Blaze regains his composure and rushes back at Akio, kneeing him in the stomach.

Falling to the ground, Akio extends his hand to stop his fall and he spins, making Blaze fall. As the latter also falls, Akio grabs his hand and pushes him down from his back. Blaze, however, does not give up. He uses his free hand to hit Akio in the stomach using his elbow and he gets up, laughing.

Both of them end up laughing and compliment the skills of each other, heading back in, now using magic. They exchange a flurry of blows and the ground below them is obliterated, until finally, they are stopped by Alex, who catches their fists with ease.

"Calm down, you two. I don't believe that you want to break this building down, now, do you?" He asked the two young fighters with sharp stares, and they stop, noticing they damage they caused and laughing it off.

Alex tells them that if they want to fight, they should take it somewhere that their magic would not cause as much damage. They nod and shake their hands, announcing that this battle was a draw. Soon after, Akio goes to his dorm and straight into his bathroom, grabbing a pair of scissors.

It had been something that was lingering on his mind for quite a while, but he was unsure. Now, though, Akio understands that it's finally time. He cuts his long hair, leaving what remained swept back, though leaving some hanging in the front of his face and so, two years pass, in which everyone goes through vigorous training.

Now, an adult Akio is seen in a mission with Eldric, though it is unknown what their goal is.