Chapter 4 - Failed

Within Akio's sight is only the village, having been burnt to the ground. The stench of blood, burned and rotten flesh cover the area, but it's obvious that there are living beings in the village still. Akio kneels, his eyes completely devoid of life, but before he can shed tears, he locks onto something.

For a split second, his eye and hair turn cyan, as sparks envelop his body a bit, and he instantly disappears. The next moment, Akio's in the village, and now, everything's clear. That dream.. it was, in fact, a precognition, and now, it's up to Akio to do the rest.

What Akio was blocking was a blade, and when he looks behind him, he sees a scared little girl, having bruises and wounds. Based on the damage done to his hand, Akio judges that this swing was aimed to kill the young girl.

Now, in the place of the sorrow, Akio's filled with extreme rage, as he breaks the blade, grabbing the broken part and using it to slit the soldier's throat. The other soldiers, which were also in on beating the girl, instantly rush to attack Akio, who shoots a death glare at them.

"You scumbags.. you never learn..."

Remembering the soldiers that he had killed a mere few days ago, Akio's filled with even more anger, and now, he only sees red. With one swift move, he grabs two of the soldiers, and his muscles slightly bulge.

"Little girl. Close your eyes."

"O..kay.."

The girl closes her eyes, and Akio, in that moment, crushes the soldiers' skulls. The blood that puddles in his fists is thrown towards the other soldiers' eyes, and they're momentarily blinded, as Akio infuses his fists with fire magic, giving him just enough strength to punch the soldiers' skulls and crush them.

Afterwards, Akio burns their bodies, leaving no trace of them. At that moment, however, he falls to his knee, having been weakened, and coughing up blood. The little girl from earlier hears Akio struggle, and she runs towards him, not knowing what just happened before her two minutes prior.

"Mister! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I think I'll live. Are you okay?"

"Thanks to you, mister! Thank you."

"No problem, but give me your right hand and either close your eyes again or turn away."

"Okay!"

The little girl, now trusting Akio, turns her head away, closing her eyes too, as she gives Akio her right hand. From his pocket, he pulls out a healing injection, the only one that he brought with him, for that matter, as he heals the little girl.

She feels a little pain, but afterwards, all of her injuries are healed. Akio removes the syringe, placing it back in his pocket, and the girl turns to look at him.

"Mister, what did you do?"

"That's a secret."

Akio tries to smile, but he falls to the ground fully. The girl tries to help him stand up, but Akio tells her not to burden herself, and that he'll be fine. Slowly, he manages to raise his hand to his head, as he sends out a distress signal to the headquarters, knowing that he won't be able to do anything after this outburst of power.

After receiving the distress signal, Hanami calls Akio via his watch, and she asks Akio what happened.

"Akio, are you okay!?"

"Somewhat. I did, however, fail the mission..."

"I see..."

"Well, I did manage to save a little girl. Oh, that reminds me! Little girl, what's your name?"

"It's Ruby, mister."

"Call me Akio."

"Okay!"

Akio turns back to his watch.

"Hanami, can you please send someone to pick me and Ruby up? I sort of can't move that much currently."

"Alright. Stay patient for a few hours."

"Okay, I'll see you."

The call ends, and Akio turns around, reaching to his pocket. Out of it, he pulls out some food, telling Ruby to eat it.

"I don't think that those soldiers allowed you to eat."

"No, but what about you, Mr. Akio?"

"I told you-- You know what? Never mind. Mr. Akio's good enough. Anyways, I'll take a little nap. If you need anything, wake me up immediately, and do not hesitate to do so."

"Okay."

Akio smiles at Ruby, but he falls unconscious. a few hours pass, and Ruby tries to take care of Akio, in an attempt to thank him for his actions. Finally, Hanami and Theos come to the village, now regretting giving Akio this mission. After all, he's fifteen years old, and this was his first one.

Hanami picks up Ruby, assuring her that everything will be okay, and Theos picks up Akio's body, with Akio showing no signs of waking up soon. Afterwards, they head back to the headquarters, with Hanami closing Ruby's ears, telling Theos that from what was visible, no other survivors existed.

"I know. Those damned monsters wouldn't have left any survivors, but Akio managed to at least save this little girl."

"Her name is Ruby. I managed to pick it up from the call with Akio."

"Alright. Now, do you think that the flames will spread?"

"I don't think so. They didn't look that strong. Anyways, let's go."

"Yeah."

Another few hours pass, and Akio wakes up in a hospital bed, gasping for air. He is calmed down by Theos and Sarah, who are in the room at the time of him waking up. Akio asks what happened to Ruby, with Theos assuring her that she's very much healthy and is now in the care of an affiliated orphanage.

"I see. Is the mission classified as a failure?"

"No, Akio. The fact that you were charged with this mission is our fault, but otherwise, for your first mission, even this little rescue was enough to make it a success. Don't beat yourself over it."

"Alright. Is everyone else okay?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, the other Successors completed their own missions."

"And they did perfectly!"

After Sarah's remark, Akio nods, being happy to hear that they succeeded. He then goes on to ask Sarah when he can get discharged, but she says that Akio will stay in for a little bit longer, so as to assure that he's healthy.

"In that case, I guess that I can stay in bed for a little while longer."

"As you should. Don't you dare get any ideas, young lad."

"Yeah, yeah."

Shortly afterwards, Theos leaves, and Sarah instructs Akio not to get up from the bed unless he wants to go to the bathroom or if it is an emergency, being quite strict. She closes the lights, and Akio simply goes back to bed, but not before watching some TV.

To his surprise, his favorite manga got adapted into a TV show, and as he watches on, Akio notices a certain character in the background of the opening sequence.

"Hm? That one.. he doesn't appear until the recent events of the manga!"

Based on his knowledge about TV show adaptions of manga, Akio inferred that they would only cover up to a certain event of said series, but it appears as though he was wrong. He does not, however, complain, as he continues to watch on, feeling just like a young child, watching the first moments of the series again.

During the episode, Akio falls asleep unknowingly, and once again, he sees another precognition, but that he does not realize. Akio awakens in the middle of a battlefield, wearing a torn-down version of his battle suit, and he subconsciously screams out to someone, who was about to get attacked from behind. At that moment, however, the precognition stops, and Akio abruptly wakes up.

Somehow, Akio slept for two whole days, and he immediately gets up to look out of the window, having a very bad feeling. His eyes widen, as flames have engulfed the city, with buildings having been destroyed, similar to his precognition.

In that very moment, and not giving a damn about Sarah's instructions, Akio runs out of his room, and subsequently, the headquarters, rushing outside. The first thing he sees is Genkei struggling against a dark soldier, and Akio rushes to help him, kicking the soldier away.

"Genkei, are you alright!?"

"Yeah. Where have you been, Akio?"

"I've been... sleeping. That is not important now, however. What happened?"

"The Dark Wizard's soldiers are attacking. I don't know why, but I do know that we're able to prevent any further damage. That being said, please cover me for a few seconds."

"Alright."

Akio turns around, fighting a few soldiers, as Genkei uses a healing injection on himself, healing the damage inflicted on him from the prior battle. Afterwards, the two cousins fight together, managing to do better than what Genkei could do alone earlier.

A few minutes pass, and Akio places some distance between them, so as to get done quicker by both of them fighting their own battles. Akio is initially dominating his enemies, but a soldier punches him in the gut, and at that moment, Akio falls to the ground, deactivating his fire magic.

"What the..?"

Trying to find a reason as to why he's unable to use his magic, or even move, for that matter, Akio falls to the ground, with the soldier on top of him making a sword out of magic, preparing to kill him.

"You die here, Phoenix."

At that moment, remembering the assault from the Theos lookalike, the fight against the soldiers outside of the school, and finally, avenging Ruby, Akio's rage boils up again, but now, in a new form of power.

His sclera and pupil turn orange, while his iris becomes white, with his hair also turning orange, with Akio getting up, letting out a primal roar. The soldier tries to stab Akio swiftly, but the blade breaks as soon as it comes into contact with Akio's body.

Akio extends his right hand, choking the soldier, and flame magic appears on the soldier's neck, burning him. Akio plants him to the ground, with the flames burning hotter, and Akio picks the soldier up, planting him to the ground again. This happens a few more time, until finally, the soldier is burned completely.

At that moment, Akio struggles to stand up, having been drained of his magic energy now fully. He's heavily dizzy, but just as he's about to fall down and lose his consciousness, Genkei holds him up, using another healing injection on him.

Akio's eyes open, and he thanks Genkei, the latter now asking him what this new power of his was.

"I.. don't know."

"Alright. Anyways, let's get back to fighting. It looks like we're starting to overpower them."

"Yeah."

Genkei and Akio split, with the latter summoning Durandal again, cleaning through the hordes of soldiers even easier now. During the battles, he fights alongside Hanami, Jack, Aoi and Griffin, all of whom meet relative ease when fighting the soldiers.

As he starts to finally feel confident, Akio starts experimenting with Durandal, using special moves with the sword, but this confidence wears off when he remembers his precognition, which starts to play out in front of him.

The man that was about to be attacked was Theos, who is currently locked in battle with another soldier, while another is about to slash him in the back. Akio screams out to him, but once again, his hair and eye turn cyan, as he appears behind Theos, taking the brunt of the attack.

Theos is surprised to see Akio behind him, but Akio is slashed from his left shoulder to the right part of his waist, and the cut is deep. The few seconds that Theos left his guard down, however, were fatal.

The soldier that was engaging in combat with Theos punches him through the stomach, blocking his use of magic, meaning that he is unable to use his Phoenix magic to regenerate his wounds. Theos falls to the ground, next to Akio, who's bleeding profusely, but he turns to his left, looking at Theos' body, which is quickly being drained of life.

"Dad..?"

"Akio... I'm sorry.. that I can't.. protect you.. further.."

Theos extends his left hand, as he places it on Akio's chest, being able to use a very small amount of magic, using it to heal Akio's wound to the point that it's not heavy, and when he's done, his hair become gray again.

"No... It can't.. be... Dad!"

Akio turns Theos' body around, but he sees his eyes devoid of life, as he lets out a sorrowful scream. The soldiers laugh, and the one from earlier is about to kill Akio too, but before he can cut him down, the other soldier is immediately pushed back.

The soldier is confused, and he starts worrying, as Akio turns around, his hair having turned cyan, his sclera and pupil orange, while his iris becomes white. Sparks surround Akio, as he lets out another primal roar. His right fist goes through the soldier's chest, ripping his heart out, as he destroys it, then continuing to destroy his body with one blast.

The other soldier returns to his senses, and he gets up, but when he raises his head, Akio is in front of him, having already placed his right palm on the soldier's chest. The soldier can't even begin to utter a word, as Akio shoots another blast, completely incinerating him.

Before Akio can also blow away his lower half too, however, the soldier regenerates, commending Akio's power. Akio is about to shoot another blast, aimed to destroy him once and for all, but the soldier puts some distance between the too, and right as Akio shoots it, it is deflected by someone else.

"You've done enough, Phoenix."

Akio's eyes widen, as the man in front of him is heavily reminiscent of an important person in his life, as both he and the soldier disappear. Afterwards, Akio deactivates his two unknown powers, as he waddles back to Theos' corpse, kneeling in front of it, and crying out loudly.

The rest of the soldiers withdraw, and the battle to save the city has finally concluded, but at what cost? The Generals and Successors that were available at the time, fighting, come close, and they keep silent, having been heartbroken from this revelation.

A few minutes later, however, Akio stops crying, as he falls to the ground too, having expended far too much of his magic, and the injury from earlier has finally caught up to him. He's taken into the hospital, as the news of Theos' death reaches everyone...