The violent torrent of flames scalded Tatsumi's skin and he screamed out in pain, as his body was being cooked alive. But strangely the flames were not melting him, or causing as much pain as he thought they would have. Even the operator of the flame spewing weapon was confused as he saw that his target wasn't already a pile of ash. Iris, seeing this as a one-time opportunity, took the chance to get up and tackle Tatsumi out of the flames.
The two of them tumbled to the ground, steam rising off Iris's body from where she had come into contact with the flames. Strangely she wasn't burned at all, causing more confusion to come from their attacker. Normally just a single flame from his Teigu would be enough to scar someone for life, but they had taken a torrent of the flames and had come out unscathed.
"How are you both still alive?" He asked the two of them as he kept a careful analytical eye on them awaiting their response with curiosity and a small hint of fear. His gaze lingered on Iris longer due to her unnatural appearance, causing multiple hypotheses to form in his head. He finally noticed that Tatsumi's skin was glowing a very faint but noticeable red. It wasn't the kind of red that one would get from a burning inferno but more of a loving embrace red of reassurance and compassion. The color actually brought back a series of memories in the man, making him feel even more guilty about the job he had to do.
"To be honest I don't know myself," Tatsumi answered the man as he shakily stood up. The man snapped back to reality as he remembered that he had asked a question in the first place. "But what I want to know is if it was you who burned that village?" Tatsumi eyed the man as his eyes filled with hatred. As he received no response Tatsumi just knew the burner of his village was indeed in front of him. The hatred and rage that had been building in him finally reached its peak as he lunged forward and lashed out and barely missed as the bigger man narrowly dodged. He was about to strike again but a hard force slammed into the side of his head and Tatsumi soon found himself laying on the ground with the flamethrower pointed at him.
Tatsumi eyed the man as he felt his thoughts continuing to darken as he received no response. Tatsumi concluded the burner of his village was indeed in front of him. as he would have already tried to deny if he was not instead of remaining silent. The dark thoughts that had been building in him finally reached its peak as they exploded in a violent fury similar to that of a hurricane's as he lunged forward and lashed out, barely missing the bigger man as narrowly dodged. He was about to strike again but his reflexes were too slow as he saw in the corner of his eye that this opponent had already started a counter attack as a hard force slammed into the side of his head causing Tatsumi to soon find himself laying on the ground with the flamethrower pointed at him.
"I truly am sorry." The man said as he began pulling the trigger. Just as the trigger was about to be pulled far enough to start spewing flames a colorful blur slammed into the man, making him stumble. He had completely forgotten Iris was there due to how quiet she had been. This forgetfulness had just cost him his opportunity to end his fight with Tatsumi. But as his opportunity closed one opened for Tatsumi as he had gotten back up to a fighting stance thanks to Iris's help. He had not expected her sudden rescue of him but he really did appreciate it but his mind barely registered due to his incoherent thoughts as his mind was only focused on the man before him.
"You have no idea what those people went through and you killed them anyways. They did nothing and you just murdered them!" He shouted making the red glow around him brighten with each word. If it weren't for the mask the man was wearing one would have seen a lone tear was escaping the man's left eye as he raised his weapon once again.
He was about to try again to finish this as quickly as possible but that was when he suddenly noticed a red glow near Tatsumi. It wasn't the red light that was around him, but it was a newly formed glow around Iris as the red part of her hair brightened considerably. Waves of power began to emit from the girl and the man shivered from them. He had only experienced power like this a few times before and he knew that he didn't stand a chance of stopping it. It would be like a fisherman trying to stop a tsunami, a feat which couldn't be done.
Tatsumi too consumed by his rage had not noticed the red aura on himself nor Iris as he advanced on his enemy. His thoughts had taken over and ridden him of all necessary thoughts as they tinged his vision with an ominous red. Only one clear thought was going through his mind and that was the thought of the man befoe him dying. He tensed the muscles in his leg as he prepared for an attack and as he lunged forward a new sensation began to overwrite his dark thoughts as fear consumed them. A coldness he had never felt before was encasing his body and his mind could only panic and try to figure out what was going on. But he never got the chance as he felt the sudden cold instantly overwhelm him causing him to black out not knowing what had happened.
The man who had just watched this happen let out a massive sigh of relief as he looked at the two frozen children before him. He was certain that if this had not happened, more blood would have been spilled. The scary part for him was that blood would have most likely been his. But he didn't have time to worry about that now since he had to deal with the person who froze them.
"Greetings General Esdeath," He said lacing his words with utmost respect. He did not perform a salute knowing from numerous rumors how the woman hated formal actions. A woman came out of the nearby treeline with a wicked grin on her face. She strode calmly into the clearing with an air of superiority about her as her long blue hair followed behind. A rapier with a point that could pierce multiple suits of armor rested on her side as she kept on of her hands over it delicately stroking it. A nightmarish aura surrounded her inducing fear into him as he felt just by being in the presence of this woman he was slowly losing his sanity. She continued walking forward to bend down in front of the frozen children, letting out a small laugh of amusement.
"Quite the threat these two were," she said as she turned around to face the man. "Normally, Bols, I wouldn't intrude on another's fight but due to certain circumstances I had to." She said as she looked at him with distaste. She hated the weak and she knew that the man before her was weaker than her. She considered everything alive was weaker than her but what she did not expect was for him to be weaker than the children. But she couldn't blame him much as she too had felt the aura Iris had produced and she was farther away than he was. But unlike him that aura had not scared her but had excited her.
"Forgive my rudeness general, but why are you in the area?" Bols questioned. She tilted her head and brought a finger to her chin as if thinking if she should tell him before she shrugged her shoulders.
"I was tasked with finding a powerful unknown Teigu in the area and I have been searching for weeks for no success." She then looked back at the frozen block of ice behind her. "At least there wasn't any until now."
Bols himself grew curious by this point and walked towards the block of ice and peered at the frozen captives.
"I thought there was supposedly only two biological Teigu?" He mused aloud.
"That was what I thought as well until during one of my late-night readings I came across an interesting piece of information, which led to me guessing that the final one would be in this area." Bols turned to look at her, extremely grateful for his mask, as she wouldn't be able to see the questioning and yet surprised look he had on his face. He had never expected her to be much of a reader but would not question it as it would more than likely end bad for his health.
"But still one of this power that was left unknown...How could that have been possible?" Bols asked as he recalled the fear-inducing power that seemed to roll of the young girl effortlessly.
"Even I do not know that, but I plan to ask once I have them transferred to the capital. That reminds me, I have an interesting proposition for you." Esdeath told him. Bols was surprised that she was bothering to ask him something but he knew no matter what it was he would more than likely accept due to what would happen if he denied.
"I would like to invite you to be the first member of a group I am forming to help quell that recent rebellion that has begun to rise." Her voice had grown, darker and more sadistic as she said this. Each of her words seemed to carry a frozen weight with them and it chilled his bones.
"It would be my honor, but may I ask what the purpose of this group is?" Bols asked. He was surprised that Esdeath was forming a group, as it was thought and well known she could take on an entire army alone. But if she was forming a group something big was happening.
"I'm sure you've heard of the assassin sisters deserting?" She asked him and at the nod of his head continued. "Well they both had Teigus in their possession and it is believed they joined the rebellion and are currently in a special Teigu user group in their army. I am making a similar group whose task is to put a stop to them, but I myself won't be able to participate as I am needed to quell another rebellion in the north."
"And what of them?" He asked pointing to the still frozen children. Esdeath had mentioned she would take them to the Empire but what came after that?
"They will come with me when I make my ways towards the north. During that time I plan to morph them into the perfect killing machine much like myself. It has been so long since I have had a fight that excited me and I plan on creating one worthy of the time that needs to be invested." Bols looked at the woman as if she were mad, whereas, in actuality, she really was.
"So you plan to train them to fight only so you can fight them in the end?" He asked to make sure.
"Precisely and since the quelling of those rebellious fools won't take too long they can even help us with the Teigu user group in the other rebellion. My only worry is that the human is still a child so his growth won't be as fast as I would like, but I may have to be patient just this once." She told him, clicking her tongue in annoyance.
"I must be on my way however as I am already late enough as it is. You can just keep receiving orders as you have until I return and we begin our mission." She tapped the block of ice and all of it melted save for an extremely thin layer around Tatsumi and Iris. She picked the two small forms up with ease, and she proceeded to walk away without another word, leaving Bols alone in the clearing.
"Something tells me that the future is going to be very problematic," Bols mutters to himself, not knowing how true his words were.
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Special thanks to my new Beta-reader Yopu is Crying for helping me write this and the following chapters! Please leave lots of reviews so I know if I'm screwing up or doing well with the story and see you next time!
Next Chapter: The Vow