"You're such a hero, aren't you?"

  That's the last thing Flugel heard before he sensed a deep, sharp pain in his arm, as if his bones were being shattered and flesh torn apart.

  "A-AAGH!" Yelled Flugel.

  Before the very eyes of Flugel, Reles was holding onto his arm with a fierce grip, fingers sinking into his flesh.

  "L-let go of me, you bastard!" Shouted Flugel.

  In a moment of rage, Flugel threw his leg back and then kicked Reles in the gut with his ankle with a vigorous blow.

  "That won't be enough for me, kid." Reles muttered.

  "I'll— kill you!" Yelled Flugel.

  "You know, Remenis was right. You peasants need to be demolished, massacred, and absolutely torn from all existence." Said Reles.

  "What is it that you want?!" Asked Flugel.

  "Me? I don't want anything. For I have no desires." Answered Reles.

  Reles threw his hand forward and grabbed Flugel by the neck, fingers sinking into his throat. Flugel felt the heavy pressure of Reles's fingers crushing his throat, making him unable to breathe, fighting for his life.

  "I am merely a servant, dedicated to my master, Remenis Fedesis, the superior of all!" Said Reles.

  "Y-you're crazy!" Yelled Flugel in pain.

  "Crazy? Wrong. My master is, and I follow the orders." Answered Reles.

  "You're proud of being a—" Flugel said.

  Flugel coughed.

  "—a slave to some insane bastard?!"

  "Slave? No, no, you've got it all wrong, peasant." Answered Reles.

  "Y-yes, yes, you are!" Yelled Flugel.

  "The thing is, our ideologies are the same, you see. I, a luxien, have a deep hatred for you, humans. I never cared about the conflict between you humans and the tenegians and the so-called "Lukra Treaty." You filthy humans disgust me to the core. Weak, imbecile, immature, and impure." Said Reles.

  Reles sinked his fingers deep into Flugel's throat as he threw him forward with a vigorous and powerful force.

  Flugel gasped as he prepared to endure the pain from the impact.

  The nearest wall was way too far for Flugel to land on, so he simply landed on the hard concrete floor, hurting his back a little.

  Reles simply smiled as he jumped down the small hill towards Flugel, approaching him.

  Flugel trembled as he struggled to even lift his head off the floor to watch what was going on.

  His arms shook as he desperately tried to sit up. His legs trembled as he slowly tried standing up to face Reles.

  Flugel stood up and looked at Reles with an arrogant grin.

  "Tsk, is that it?" Flugel said before spitting on the side.

  "Getting arrogant now, aren't you?" Said Reles.

  "Why the arrogance when I spoke truth?" Answered Flugel with a grin.

  "Truly... magnificent."

  Reles lowered his head as he closed his eyes and then raised his hand and hid it inside his cloak.

  Flugel titled his head and stared in confusion as he wondered what he was going to pull out.

  A shining light emerged from the blade coming out of Reles's cloak, merely due to the light reflecting on it.

  Before Reles could manage to pull out his cutlass, a loud screaming voice poked their ears from a distance that wasn't so far.

  "ROT IN HELL!" Yelled a voice that was quite familiar to the ears of Flugel.

  It was none other than the long orange haired Ferdge, rushing towards Reles fueled with rage like an unstoppable beast that even a wall made of the hardest metals wouldn't imagine of stopping.

  In a moment, Reles turned around only for his eyes to witness a giant boulder crushing his face, piercing like an arrow, feeling the extremely humongous weight upon his face all at once.

  "You— where did you—?!" Said Reles with a broken voice.

  Fortunately for Reles, instead of crushing his skull to powder, the boulder simply broke his nose and made him fall to the ground helplessly.

  He fell on his back with a loud thud as the boulder fell next to him. Ferdge was quite amused by his praiseworthy achievement and yelled out for Flugel.

  "Hey! You! Are you okay, kid?!" Yelled Ferdge.

  "Don't you dare let your guard down!" Flugel shouted back.

  After his experience with Remenis, he knew it was the wisest decision to never let your guard down with him or his servants. His last mistake cost him the most valuable soul in the world in his eyes. Not to mention the other mistake committed by Welch that cost him his life.

  "Stay away, now!" Yelled Flugel.

  Ferdge felt an intimidating presence approaching him as he looked at the side of his eye.

  Ferdge immediately jumped back in Flugel's direction so he could stand next to him.

  "That guy... seems we're going to have a little bit of fun with him, ay?" Said Ferdge.

  The two of them snarled a little as a hint of anger grew in their face. They watched as Reles's legs started twitching and then stared as he stood back on his knees, then on his legs, standing firmly, staring into their eyes.

  "I'd like to say that was quite courageous of you. Well done!" Said Reles as he clapped.

  Reles's blood kept rolling down his skin, coming out from his nostrils uncontrollably due to his nose being broken.

  Reles raised his hand and reached out to his nose, and then started pinching his nose, shifting it left and right as if trying to put it back in place.

  Flugel and Ferdge wrinkled their noses in disgust and annoyance, which they felt when watching Reles seemingly try to fix his nose.

  "Oh... I see, you've broken it, huh..." Said Reles.

  "Yeah, so? What about it? I'd love to tear it off your face a million times before I become satisfied." Said Ferdge with a smirk on his face.

  "You two are quite alike, arrogant and meaningless." Said Reles.

  Reles wiped his blood off his face with his sleeve and then flung his hand to shake off the blood.

  "So be it! Prepare for thy ruling, peasant!" Yelled Reles.

  Ferdge turned his head a little to the side and looked at Flugel.

  "Hey, kid, is your arm alright?" Ferdge whispered.

  "Y-yeah... what took you so long?" Asked Flugel.

  "I needed to find something to knock him out at least for a second... at least you're safe now." Said Ferdge.

  "Yeah, I guess..." Replied Flugel.

  The both of them stared back at Reles and stood firmly, ready to counter any upcoming attack.

  "Pests." Said Reles.

  Before their eyes, Reles rapidly kneeled down just enough so he could launch himself forward with a fierce force.

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  As the rapid flash of Reles approached them, Reles drew his blade —the cutlass— and sliced the air with a vigorous force.

  Fortunately, Flugel and Ferdge reacted just in time to be able to jump to the side, avoiding the sharp blade.

  "I see... you're not like them." Said Reles.

  Flugel immediately turned around and yelled while reaching out for the hem of his pants and sliced it open, pulling out the knife Welch had given him earlier.

  "Orange guy, take it!" Yelled Flugel.

  Flugel threw his arm back and then threw it forward, launching the knife towards Ferdge.

  Thankfully, Ferdge jumped upwards and opened his hand so he could catch the knife, which he did successfully.

  "My name is Ferdge, you know?!" Yelled Ferdge.

  Before Flugel could answer, saying his name, Reles rushed towards Flugel with smooth steps, as if he was running on air.

  Reles rapidly threw his blade upwards and attempted to slice Flugel's torso. Flugel weaved to the side, resulting in Reles starting to cast a series of slices and slashes against Flugel.

  Flugel merely stepped backward and weaved each time a slash was coming his way.

  Even though most of his dodges and weaves were successful, some of them ended up in failure as the cutlass tore his black tracksuit and ripped through some of his skin, making him bleed a little.

  "Ugh—!" Flugel muttered.

  As Flugel dodged a slash that was going to slice his throat in half, he rapidly threw his shoulder blade backward, clenched his fist tightly, infused it with VLV but not so much so he could still function properly, and then pushed it forward with vigorous blow.

  His fist managed to successfully land his knuckles across Reles's face, creating a weak point for Ferdge to join in the beating.

  Before Flugel could go in for another hit, Reles ducked and attempted to slash one fierce and powerful blow onto Flugel's gut.

  "Crap!" Thought Flugel.

  In a mere moment, energy accumulated within Flugel, VLV flowing through his veins as if it were blood. Light manifesting in one singular limb, his forearm.

  In a split of a second, Flugel's scythe formed smoothly, blocking Reles's attack and redirecting it upwards.

  "Y-you?!" Yelled Reles.

  "You have a nice arm, don't you?!" Flugel shouted back.

  After a moment, Flugel went on to slash Reles's arm with a vigorous, powerful, and smooth slicing attack.

  Reles immediately leaned backward, avoiding the hit. Yet his trial led to little to no result as the scythe tore the skin of his wrist.

  Reles immediately jumped backward, creating distance between the two of them.

  "I see. You're the Lux wielder Remenis talked about." Said Reles.

  "Yeah, what about it?" Flugel replied with a nervous grin on his face.

  "Lux? I see. That must be my authority. But it's just light in simpler terms..." Flugel thought.

  "Remenis told me quite a lot about you. An adolescent that wields the authority of Lux. Carries a prideful smile on his face." Said Reles.

  "Uhuh..." Flugel muttered as he stood firmly.

  "But I don't see that smile on you... is it because..." Said Reles.

  Reles raised his hand and put it over his forehead, and then looked at Flugel with a wide devilish smile on his face and said:

  "You killed your own mother?"

  The last sentence struck a nerve in Flugel, making him bare his teeth in rage and anger.

  "It's all your fault..." Flugel whispered.

  Rushing steps could be heard approaching, thundering against the ground like a raging beast.

  "...it's all your damn fault!" Yelled Flugel.

  Flugel propelled forward with almost earthquake-causing steps. Each step being made was as if the earth was being pushed under him.

  "How about you kill your—!" Yelled Reles.

  In a moment, a wave of pain devoured Reles, as if he was about to have a heart attack at any moment and die right then and now.

  "C-crap... I overworked my vocal cords again, and my energy as well..." Thought Reles.

  Reles clenched his muscles and held his chest with his hand, gripping tightly, trying desperately to ease the pain.

  Yet his efforts led to no avail as his own blood rolled down his lips and mouth like a red waterfall.

  Before the rage fueled Flugel had any chance to lay even a finger on Reles, he was interrupted by the roaring Ferdge emerging out of nowhere behind Reles.

  "Take this!" Yelled Ferdge.

  Reles immediately ducked down rapidly and then threw his leg backward, his foot piercing Ferdge's gut.

  Ferdge jumped backward, creating distance between the two.

  "You filthy coward—!" Reles yelled.

  Flugel wasted no time and immediately went in for a guttural punch. He quickly deformed his scythe and threw a fist through Reles's gut, his knuckles piercing through it with a vigorous blow.

  "Ferdge, now!" Yelled Flugel.

  As Flugel attempted to follow his last attack with another guttural punch, Reles catched Flugel's hand, gripping tightly onto them.

  "You're quite light, huh?!" Yelled Reles.

  Reles's fingers sinked into Flugel's hand as he turned around and launched him forward like ragdoll with a powerful force.

  Flugel pierced through the air, waiting to collide with something. Fortunately, Flugel merely collided with the sprinting Ferdge.

  The two fell on the ground with a painful impact but immediately stood back up as they knew they couldn't waste a second.

  "Hey, kid." Said Ferdge.

  "Yes?" Replied Flugel.

  "I see you have something on you. That's an authority, isn't it?" Asked Ferdge.

  Flugel sighed.

  "Yes."

  Ferdge shrugged.

  "A child like you got his hands on an authority. Are you a royalty?"

  Flugel was perplexed.

  "What? No, if I was, I wouldn't be here, you know?!"

  Ferdge was just as confused.

  "How did you—? Never mind, now's not the right time for this."

  The two kneeled down just a little bit and sprinted forward like lighting, penetrating the air with each step.

  Strangely, Reles raised his cutlass above his head and then muttered something.

  "My blade, speak, speak to thy master."

  In a flash of an eye, Flugel and Ferdge stood firmly behind Reles with fear in their eyes, as if they've witnessed something horrendous.

  Reles lowered his cutlass.

  "Cultro's Gates."

  In a moment, a wide bloodstain became visible through Flugel's and Ferdge's tracksuits, as if their torsos were sliced open in half.

  Flugel was taken a back as he gasped heavily due to the extreme pain coming from his penetrating wound and fell to his knees.

  Ferdge clenched his muscles and grabbed onto his stomach tightly, trying to ease the pain and stop the bleeding as much as possible.

  Reles simply turned around and approached Flugel.

  "What a shame, i thought you'd be more fun."

  That sentence seemed familiar to Flugel, very familiar. Indeed, that's what Remenis told him when he was about to die.

  "Think, Flugel, think!" That's all Flugel could hear in his thoughts.

  "Think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think think."

  Reles pointed his cutlass to Flugel's throat. Then, he raised his cutlass and then slashed Flugel with a vigorous and fierce blow.

  "Die as your body rots from your sins." Said Reles.

  "Lux Carcerem."

  Before Flugel's throat was cut in half, Flugel raised his hand and pushed it against Reles's gut.

  "What are you—?!" Yelled Reles.

  Before his eyes, a strange light— no, a strange luminous object emerged from Reles's gut.

  Reles immediately panicked and tried slicing the object in half with his cutlass with a smooth fierce blow, yet it was absolutely unsuccessful.

  "Connect."

  Strangely, the object started multiplying in number slowly. One, then it into two, then three, and finally four.

  The spherical objects connected to each other with bright, thin strings of light, as if forming a web of light strings.

  The spheres surrounded Reles in a square-shaped orientation, as if forming a square cage.

  Flugel coughed.

  "I wouldn't have imagined— I'd copy that insane bastard. But..."

  Reles was confused and perplexed. He felt his hand stuck in place as if it were paralyzed, and then Flugel said:

  "I'll do anything to rip your head off. I'll do anything to tear that prideful smile off your damn face."

  Flugel trembled as if an earthquake was happening under his feet as he tried standing up.

  "Leave me alone." Flugel muttered.

  "W-what are you?!" Reles questioned.

  "I am... Flugel Spes, son of Bertha Spes... the woman you've killed!"

  Flugel immediately landed his knuckles across Reles's face, piercing through his skull.

  A mind full of rage and fury. A mind that knew nothing but its one objective. A mind that only saw two prey in its eyes. That mind was none other than Flugel's.

  Flugel went on to start pummeling Reles with a determined mind. Each fist and blow stronger and fiercer than the one before it. Each fist was accompanied by a small amount of VLV that shook Reles's head. Each finger that made contact with Reles was accompanied by a thundering force that made Reles feel as if his skull was about to be shattered.

  "Ugh—!" Yelled Reles.

  Reles felt as if something peneratred his spine like a piercing arrow. Reles trembled as he turned around slowly only to see—

  "Missed me?" Said Ferdge.

  "You, peasants... you absolute filthy bastards!" Yelled Reles.

  Reles endured as attacks and blows were coming at him left and right, up and down, forward and backward with no hint of ending any time soon.

  Kicking, punching, slashing. That wasn't enough to satisfy the hatred Flugel had for Reles.

  Flugel removed the cage he had made for Reles from the latter, releasing Reles. But this time, Reles was merely a punching bag for Flugel and Ferdge.

  Flugel grabbed Reles by his neck, fingers sinking into his throat and gripping tightly.

  "We're going to have fun. You wanted fun, didn't you?!" Yelled Flugel.

  Flugel threw Reles forward with a vigorous and powerful force, which was accompanied by the little VLV Flugel had left.

  When Reles was close enough, Ferdge dared to land a punch on his face midair, which he had done so successfully.

  Reles fell onto the ground, helpless and powerless. He lay on the ground on his face, staring into the hard concrete floor with pyre hatred towards our two humans.

  Flugel immediately started running towards the supposed-corpse of Reles, wanting to torture Reles even more than before.

  "I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Yelled Flugel.

  Before Flugel could pierce his scythe into Reles's body, stabbing and penetrating it, Ferdge grabbed Flugel by the collar and dragged and pulled him as far as possible from Reles.

  "Back away, now!" Yelled Ferdge.

  "What the hell are you doing?!" Flugel asked angrily.

  "Just look, and you'll understand!" Shouted Ferdge nervously.

  Flugel turned around with fury in his eyes, waiting to be unleashed and wanting to obliterate Reles out of existence.

  He merely watched as Reles's body started twitching and moving a little, making him get a little suspicious.

  "H-he's still alive!? Let's finish him, now!" Yelled Flugel, speaking to Ferdge.

  "Please, trust me. This is bad." Replied Ferdge.

  Strangely, it seemed that Reles's muscles and skin were getting bigger by the second. Each limb and part of his body grew to double the original size.

  "What is happening to him?!" Asked Flugel as he started panicking.

  "I-I—... Maybe the rumors are true..." Ferdge said.

  "What?! What is it?!" Flugel questioned.

  "W-while luxiens seem to be a peaceful race... but they're also a powerful tool for war, perhaps why they're here in the first place." Said Ferdge.

  "Why is he getting bigger?!" Asked Flugel.

  Ferdge swallowed his spit.

  "Depending on their level of VLV control, when near death, the luxien body will go into a destruction mode. Just so it could demolish everything around it, and also..."

  Reles's body started acting by itself, as if it were unconscious and was nothing but a walking doll. His body parts grew so big that Reles's arm was as big as Flugel's torso.

  Reles's skin grew red. His flesh became swollen, and some huge bubbles emerged under his skin.

  His frame was three times the size of Flugel. He was so tall that Flugel and Ferdge had to lift their head up to look at him in the eyes.

  "I am..." Yelled Reles.

  Reles clenched fist and smacked the concrete floor with a burly blow, causing a small cluster to emerge under their feet and the floor to shake a little.

  "I am the end of you, peasants!" Yelled Reles.

  His jaw became so huge that its weight made it hang in the air as if barely holding onto his face.

  "... self-destruct." Said Ferdge.