The giant elephant-man hybrid roared mightily. I covered my ears from the massive roar. The other watchers did the same as they too were just normal citizens. I heard massive stomps getting louder each step. He was running toward me with blood lust and the stomps from his elephant feet quaked the Colosseum. As with most heavyweights, they sacrifice speed for great defense and strength.

"Graaahh!" his battle roar was fierce, but not as loud as his initiating roar. He threw a giant fist into the earth with extreme speed for a giant. Good thing I avoided that strike, otherwise I'd be dead in an instant. His fist was resting in a hole he made with the sheer force of his fist. I reeled in my right arm and threw a fist at his immobile fist. My fist was strong enough to produce a short yet violent shock wave around my punch. The giant man-elephant gritted his teeth in pain. He swung his trunk at my back, knocking me painfully into the Colosseum wall. I felt like I got hit by a truck when he struck me with his trunk and the landing into a hard wall just made me feel worse.

The crowd booed at the elephant yet some cheered for him. I'm kind of glad I have supporters (never had a lot in my world). I still can't lose. To me it's win or lose, but to the other gladiators, it's life or death. My bones were okay and I could still move my limbs fine. I stood up with a confident grin and got back into my boxing pose. I don't care if I learned some boxing from video games or boxing matches. I had to really fight for my life because I'm half the zombie I was.

"Uuuuuraaagh!" I shouted as I threw my body into the sky. My jump height was as low as I expected, considering my decreased strength. I leapt up to his head.

"You think you can outrun Ratha?!" the giant elephant man shouted as he threw his right fist at my airborne body.

The fist was fast for a giant man. I braced my chest with my two arms, attempting to block the extremely fast fist. I grunted in pain from the force of his fist, knocking me slightly higher into the sky. Ratha was relentless. He extended his left arm toward me during my short flight into the sky. The sheer velocity of my knock back made it really hard to move my limbs due to the extreme wind during my flight. Like being on top of a speeding fighter jet, it would be nearly impossible for a normal man to even just brace his feet onto the jet, let alone move his limbs due to the extreme drag and mans lack of strong innate wind resistance. The stony palms of Ratha constricted my half zombie body, immediately stopping my flight toward the sky. What comes up, must come down. He tossed me into the hard sand of the Colosseum with great strength. My back hitting the hard Colosseum floor hurt like a bitch. I would have died from that grapple if I was still human. He reeled back his hand, revealing my crushed body. More boos were heard, yet the growing fanbase of Ratha started to chant his name.

I got up, albeit ruggedly. Cestuses still on both fists, I entered into my own custom fighting stance again. Ratha turned to me with that evil glare once again. He backed up a few meters away from me, which to him, seemed like a few centimeters. I'm not sure if he was just being cocky, or was he actually honorable. Scratch honorable, only calling me scum is just rude.

You know, armored opponents like these guys have very narrow weaknesses. If they were to move with enough mobility, their joints had to be partially armored otherwise the excess armor would hinder mobility. I've noticed his great agility was due to his less armored joints. If I aimed for those joints, then maybe I might have a chance to win. I'll need to keep him occupied.

"Don't stare at me like that, worm, or I'll destroy you," he said with that ugly mouth. Speaking of mouth, how would he like to shut up?

I still had strength to do a high jump, but I have a better idea to cut some slack.

"Continue doing that and you'll only be all bark and no bite," I taunted the giant elephant.

That ugly mouth gritted its teeth in anger. A powerful and extremely agile fist was his response. I managed to react correctly to his attack by hopping away from his fist. I leaped onto his vacant arm and hopped off toward his exploited jaw. I threw a powerful uppercut to his jaw. His head bobbed upward from the my uppercut. A burst of sanguine shot out of his mouth like a water sprinkler. He stumbled backward and fell on his bum.

"Bastard!" he shouted with an angry voice.

While the crowd was extremely loud and inaudible at my current position, I've heard some chants and comments about me.

"Franklin! Franklin! Franklin!"

Maybe his mouth is a weak spot. To hit it a bit easier, then maybe I might have to disable it a bit further. To accomplish this, then maybe I might have to improvise for a bit, or else his human brain will catch the rhythm of my attacks and brutally retaliate. I'm scared, but I still have to risk my limbs to win.

Ratha got up on his two elephant feet and sprinted toward me. His movement was slightly below-average, yet the stomps instilled fear to the nearby guards. I felt the quake of his steps, yet retained my game face. He raised that heavy trunk of his and attempted to slam it on me. The basic human instinct to dodge falling objects saved me through a side step. But my small leap lead me into a trap. His giant left hand awaited me from behind. Smartass!

He laughed with sadistic glee as he constricted me with his stone cold fingers. He carried me to his head's level, showing the sadistic smile behind his heavy trunk. Those hands felt like a trash compacter: smelly, and extremely tough. My current strength wasn't enough to set me free from this stony compactor. How would this help me master this Magoi Manipulation? How will this help me to fuse my rukh or magoi with this other soul's?

"You think I'd be just like Marxus huh?" that eerie voice said.

He tossed me into the ground forcefully. His throw was so strong that it was enough to bounce my body off the ground. The impact caused me to barf out blood painfully. The pain didn't stop yet.

"I've just started, scum," this time, he said it in a rather aggressive tone as he punted me with his heavy foot.

The force of that kick easily caused destructive pain all around my body as I hit the Colosseum wall again. The damage I received was far exceeding. I couldn't stand up, let alone move. I was hurt both physically and spiritually. I feel like those superstars who believe they're completely invincible. I felt his hand wrap around my right arm and I was suddenly airborne.

"Eat! Eat! Eat!" the crowd screamed.

"Well, I am hungry." he said casually yet eerily.

He used his other arm to raise my left arm. I looked to my left and saw that ugly maw of his. Reminds me of my brother, Johann. A thug, a liar, a bully. My brother.

As for most siblings, they always fought. Sometimes because they want things, or sometimes they completely forget, yet still fight. Johann is a liar and a thief. During grade 2, he stole bubblegum from a convenience store, much to the derangement of my parents. He always drove my family crazy, except Benjamin, who's the only one who can calmly and logically break him.

I found myself all gray, surrounded by a black abyss. Beside me, I saw Benjamin, my eldest brother. He was possibly the other soul that bonded with me.

He was charming compared to me. While I had messy hair, his hair was stylishly gelled into a presentable fauxhawk. He is more fashionably aware, yet at the same time, not a show off. He wore a white t-shirt underneath a blue blazer. His black skinny jeans's cuffs were folded up to show his ankles outside of his white shoes. I always noted that we sometimes wore colors that are polar opposites; where he wears mostly white, and I wear mostly black. He had white earbuds placed on each ear, and I had black earbuds, yet it got destroyed and I replaced it with white headphones to make it seem like we're not yin and yang.

"Look, Frank, you know we both hate him, right?" Benjamin said as he pointed to a lone spotlight in a distance, showing Johann.

Johann sat on a chair, alone. He stared into the abyss coldly.

He had a buzz cut and wore a white sweater and a brown sleeveless vest. He had baggy blue jeans and black sandals. He looked a bit chubby, yet that chubbiness and concealing clothing belied powerful muscle.

I turned back to Benjamin with a solemn and concerned look.

"You can't always describe him just by his hoodlum tendencies,"

I feel like wanting to question where am I, but I didn't want to change the subject. It could be possible that both my older brothers died, because this might be their souls or Rukh I'm talking to.

"Johann was lonely, sad, and hopeless. He turned to the Thug Life not because it chose him, it's because he felt like he had no other choice."

We both looked at him.

"But the Thug Life changed his hobbies, yet he tried to look for a better way of life. Even if he lied, cheated, or stole from you, there were times he made it up to you."

I started to remember good memories. I started to remember that he wasn't fully bad. He had a more anti-hero lifestyle: doing whatever he wants, yet remaining somewhat heroic. I remembered when he invited me to smoke weed with him. After only two times, I stopped, not wishing to become like him. I remembered in Summer nights, we snuck out our parent's car and explored the city in the night. He even helped me find a new computer once.

I feel like a total jerk. Why did I compare my brother's thuggish activities with his personality? He may have joyrided, but he was still aware of his faults. Because of the life he chose, all of us didn't accept him as a human being, yet he still tried to earn our trust again, only to continue to do bad things right after we make up. Even as he kept betraying our trust, he still doesn't want to harm us because he still loves the family he was raised with.

I ran toward my Johann.

"John!" I shouted his preferred short name.

He still didn't turn. I ran closer. I called out while running when I got close, and he responded. I've been rejecting him for a long time. He's the second rukh that I have to fuse with. He turned to me with a soft smile. He raised a hand to me.

"High five," he said calmly.

When our palms connected, a brilliant flash surrounded us. I saw both the smiles of my elder brothers. I smiled back with a single tear shedding from my eye.

"I love you guys," I said through sobs.

The great light overtook us. Only white remained.

I woke up from that short coma. I realized that my arm was getting chomped by this ugly man. I also found out that my right hand wasn't clenched. It felt like two dull guillotines compacting my arm. When my palm connected to his stony fingers, I felt something coming into my arm. Power? As this alien power seeped into me, Ratha's right hand's functionality started to degrade. It was like I took the life from his hand. He let go of me and I landed softly on the sands of the Colosseum. I didn't feel the pain of my feet hitting the ground. Am I a full zombie once again?

I pulled my collar and discovered the Magoi Limiter gem was cracked. For some reason, I had an aggressive fire in my eyes. A thirst to beat the crap out of someone as if I wanted to have vengeance upon someone who hurt a loved one.

The picture of someone's perspective flashed briefly in my mind. I think it was Johann's memory of some sort of brawl I never heard of. He mounted on top of this victim and was reeling a fist. When he threw the fist at his face, reality came back.

"What are you?!" Ratha said with fear in his tone as he clenched his lagging right arm with his left hand.

I looked at my nearly mutilated left arm. The lacerations started closing in. My Life Parasite is kicking in full gear again.

"I'm not human," I shot myself toward his chest with a shoulder tackle.

The force of the tackle was strong enough to knock him down to his back. I did a quick back flip from the recoil of my tackle. I landed on the sand and hopped to his downed body. I landed on the base of his trunk with a two footed stomp. The nostril at the end of his trunk oozed out blood. Ratha was scared, and I was invigorated from battle.

"I'm not dead," I crouched down and threw my right fist into his face. His whole head forcefully leaned to his right from my fist, yet I still hung on from his reaction.

"nor alive," I threw my left fist into his face. Same as before, but he recoiled to the left. I swear, I think I cracked his dry skin a bit.

The shadow of his left fist obstructed the sunshine above. I turned to it and glared at it.

"You sure you don't want your left arm to be lifeless like your right hand?" I threatened him.

"Try me, scum."

He threw his left hand toward me with frightening force.

"Bad move, dummy."

I launched myself forward; over his head. He stupidly punched himself in the face, while I was laying on the sands of the Colosseum. I rested my palms on the floor and shot myself upward.

"I am..."

I reeled his arm slowly away from his face. His eyes widened from my final attack.

"A zombie!"

Good thing I leapt a reasonable distance, otherwise I'd kill him via brain damage. I elbowed his head with enough force to knock him out. Why and how did Reim get an elephant with killing intent? As I got up, the gem on my chest shattered. Good thing no one saw it, otherwise they'd think I was cheating.

The crowd roared once again from my victory. I raised my arms in triumph as the crowd chanted my name. I walked back while waving to the crowd. Strange, I have the strange craving to smoke, though the craving is conflicted by my own morals. Maybe the fusion of his Rukh allowed me to gain some of his traits. Maybe that's why I take a calculative initiative in battle, just like Ben would before he plays his games online.

I gave in. To smoking that is. Because of having Johann's soul, I seem to have the knowledge on how to smoke. Good thing I'm a zombie, so my failing yet ironically functioning lungs were immune to the harmful effects, especially psychological harm. Smoking made me look cool, especially since Toto looked at me with a blushing face while I was walking out of the Colosseum. No time for harems or relationships for me, so I pretended to be oblivious to her blushing face, only for her to blush harder. Sigh. It was a few hours after the match and I used the prize money to rent a room in one of Remana's inns. Since the prize money was big, I had to go big, thus my room was fancy, yet simple.

I looked out the window. I was on the second floor of the Inn. The Inn was on higher ground, so I had a good view of Reim. The Colosseum was the most prominent view as well as a group of slightly clumped Roman styled buildings.

A knock on my door interrupted my sightseeing. I walked to the door, greeted by Shambal.

"Heya, Shambal," I said with a casual, yet friendly smile.

"Hello my friend," he said with the same friendly smile I had,"Come with me,"

I walked out of my Inn room and followed Shambal to who knows where.

He lead me to the Training Grounds that Toto guarded me from. While we were walking to the destination, he told me of what he really was: a Yambala Tribesman. The Yambala knew a technique called Magoi Manipulation, which involved utilizing Magoi to strike or to counteract other Magoi. Before we headed in, he turned to me; his taller body looming over me. I was under average height, around 5'4.

"Franklin, are you aware of the identities of the two Magoi inside of you?"

"Yes, my brothers, Johann and Benjamin,"

He nodded. That nod let out an aura of understanding and wisdom. This man is truly a wise man.

"What did you realize in that moment?"

I started to remember bits of the time I was in the dungeon, Orobas. I think before I died, I saw Theo, behind two armed men. If the souls of my elder brothers have entrusted their power unto me, then maybe they gave me a purpose for this power.

"I realized that my brothers entrusted me with this power because they believed I was the more kind and just person,"

I gazed at my scissors. Did their souls somewhat enter into my scissors like Orobas did?

"They believed that through their power, I could use it to grow in spirit, body, and power. But this time, I found a new purpose in my life, a true and meaningful purpose,"

My scissors started to generate black electricity. Black lightning with red, blue, and green hues danced around my arm. I braced a confident and adventurous grin. Finally, the supernatural adventure I've dreamt of.

"I will stop my little brother's tyranny with his Magi powers," my voice was stern and committed,"and through your tutelage, maybe I might learn how to control this power of mine and grow more powerful."

A flock of yellow birds spawned behind me and flew freely outward. Shambal smiled calmly from my resolve.

"That's what I believe my destiny is,"

It had been hours of training. I had to learn basic swordplay and my improvised version with my scissors was considered too sloppy and unrefined to be a good fighting style. I could react well to attacks, yet my technique was lacking. I was also trained in hand to hand combat after witnessing my rugged self taught fighting style. My reaction time only needed work, whereas my strength was already exemplary. I discovered through the Life Parasite and usage of Magoi Manipulation, I could drain Magoi, like how I did against Ratha. Because of the training program Yambala had put me through, I had to stay in Reim for now.

It had been a few days of training and I was in the main road, doing some jabs to the air. I've had a few gladiator matches in the last few days. Even when they found out I was a zombie, I still kept on the limiter in the matches to increase my current strength through training. Good thing they were human gladiators. I lost a few matches, but they showed me mercy and offered me some constructive criticism, such as my recklessness or inaccuracy. I was exhausted, because of my limiter. I stopped my boxing practices for now and walked forward.

"Oof!" a hooded girl bumped into me and fell down to her bum.

She wore a hood that covered her upper head, showing only her mouth. I saw a stitch by her chin. That hood looked like it was from a hoodie. She was wearing a black rugged poncho that covered up to her thighs. Her legs were showing, revealing a series of stitches and black sneakers. A lock of golden hair seeped out of her hood and her skin was extremely pale.

Was she a zombie like me? I looked at myself and realized my skin has partially paled. I was still kind of tanned, but I'm not sure if it's just my albino Filipino skin.

When she looked at me, she gasped and ran away from me in a flash. I raised my brow in confusion. I widened my eyes from remembering her. She was possibly the one who helped me in Orobas.

Who is she?

To be continued

A/N: Even if I have a decent amount of views, this is the end of the Franklin Arc and I hope you enjoyed my Fan Fiction. Next chapter will involve the mysterious girl that Franklin bumped into. It will only be the information of her and her debut as a central character will now be in her point of view.