Hiei stared, amazed at how Koray stopped the actions of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and completely absorbed all its power into himself. As soon as the dragon was completely gone, Koray let go of Hiei's arm. Hiei fell to the ground, realizing how much pain he was in from exerting himself.

Koray bent down to help Hiei, but he pushed his father away. "Don't touch me, you bastard!" Koray was taken aback by Hiei's outburst. "You've got some explaining to do!"

"Hiei -" Koray begun, but was cut off by a voice that Hiei found familiar.

"Now, now. There's no need to be in any rush, Hiei. The truth about your father's past will be revealed soon enough. But for now, he has a promise to fulfil." Surprised, Hiei turned around to see the small, grey-haired man that had sent him to the Island of Fire in the first place. Athanasios.

"Wait... What are you doing here?" Hiei asked.

"Ah, well your father needed a fast way to get to you. So I volunteered to bring him here, since I possess exceptional teleportation abilities." Athanasios replied with a grin.

"I don't get it. Why would he need to rely on you? I thought he wasn't a part of your organization anymore." Hiei questioned.

"Hiei, it's complicated..." Koray said. "I'll tell you when we're finished with things here."

Hiei went to protest, but he couldn't help but notice another person approaching them.

"Koray.... Is that you?" Kyo said as limped, due to damage from the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. "I... I thought you were dead!"

"Ah, forgive me, Kyo. It seems I've lied to you." Athanasios said to the fire lord.

"Lord Athanasios?! What are you.... I don't understand...." Kyo stuttered with great surprise.

"Well, I suppose I owe you the truth since I'm about to end our affiliation. When you asked me to find out what had happened to Koray after your men had abandoned him on the Island of Wind, I told you he was indeed dead, and that the Island of Wind had taken care to dispose of the remains. The truth is that one of the soldiers of the Island of Wind decided to take Koray to a hospital, where, after much trouble, they were able to save his life. Since then, he's been living on the Island of Wind." Athanasios explained.

Kyo's eyes flared with anger. "What?! Why did you lie to me?"

"There was no reason for you to know the truth. Koray would never return to you people." Athanasios replied. "And besides that, since Koray worked for me, I wouldn't want to trouble him by giving you information that would lead you to bother him."

"You son of a bitch... How dare you betray me like that! How dare you go against my family!" Kyo said through gritted teeth.

"What the hell's going on here....?" Hiei said more to himself than those around him.

"Kyo's family has been lending Athanasios assistance for a few generations." Koray explained. "Though, Athanasios was only using them to keep his hold on the Island of Fire."

"What do you mean 'keep his hold'?" Hiei asked.

"You see, in the center of the large forest of the Island of Fire, surrounded by an extremely powerful barrier, is the main base of the Black Knights Organization."

"What?!" Hiei exclaimed.

"Yes.... And because of the barrier, none of the other Islands were able to find out about the fire lord's affiliation with me. In fact, the citizens of the Island of Fire aren't even aware that I have anything to do with their lord." Athanasios explained. "However, I grow tired of Kyo and his people. They're nothing but a nuisance."

"What are you saying? What's wrong with me and my people?! Explain yourself!" Kyo demanded.

"If you still don't understand, then Koray will show you." Athanasios said as he looked over at Hiei's father.

For a moment, Koray just stood there. He closed his eyes, and took a large intake of breath. Then he disappeared. Within a second, Kyo let out a cry of pain as he was sliced apart by Koray's now-drawn sword.

Athanasios smiled widely with satisfaction. Hiei just stared, still a bit unsure of what was going on. He was lead to believe that Koray no longer worked with the Black Knights, and yet here it seemed as though he was obeying Athanasios' orders.

"Koray. Just a reminder; I don't want a single one of them left alive. Not even -"

"I know. You don't have to tell me." Koray said with an angry tone.

He then proceeded to sheath his sword, and held out his hand. Black flames gathered there, and then shot out, consuming the entire prison area. The flames reduced the entire area to ashes. There was no trace of any of the guards, prisoners, or stone huts. Nothing left but ashes.

Koray then ran off in the direction of the village where the fire demons resided.

"Incredible, isn't it, that a place the size of a large city could be destroyed so easily by one man. Perhaps now you see why I'm so interested in him - and you, for that matter. Even in this world, it would take the entire strength of an above average warrior to pull off such simplistic destruction. And yet your father does it as if it's nothing." Athanasios almost seemed to be talking to himself as he stared out in the direction of the village where explosions could be seen, and faint screams could be heard.

"Hey.... Why's he obeying your commands? I thought he wasn't with you guys anymore." Hiei demanded.

Athanasios laughed. "Why... He's doing it for your sake."

"What?"

"I see you still haven't quite pieced together the situation you were in before we arrived. You see, if I was the one pulling Kyo's strings, then that means one false move by Koray and you'd be the one to suffer. And I mean in ways worse than what the fire lord was doing to you." Athanasios explained. "So I told Koray that if he would completely obliterate the fire demons for me, I'd have you returned safely to him."

"But why send me here when you already had me in a vulnerable state before?" Hiei asked.

"That's because you weren't of any interest to me this time." Athanasios replied. Hiei looked at him with a puzzled expression. "As I already explained, I grew weary of the fire demons. My only goals here were to get rid of them, and to send a warning to your father."

"A warning about what?"

"You see, I didn't really appreciate the way he abruptly left me. And to be honest, no one in the Black Knights, other than me, has the power to stand up to him, so I let him get away with his betrayal for the time being. But the time has come that he returns. He's been nothing but a thorn in my side these past years, so I've come to the decision that he either rejoins, or I will personally see to his death."

Hiei smirked. "I see now. And you're going to use me to get to him."

"Well, you are his greatest weakness after all." Athanasios said as he smirked as well.

"Hey..." Koray said he approached Hiei and Athanasios. He was covered in blood, and his eyes were completely emotionless. "The job is done. Now we're leaving."

"Of course." Athanasios said with a grin. "And don't worry. As promised, I won't get in your way for now." And then, Athanasios disappeared.

For a while Hiei and Koray stood where they were in silence. Hiei was thinking about what he had just been told, and he was trying to decide what he should question Koray about first. Koray was thinking about he should say to Hiei. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do, and he knew that Hiei was probably really upset about getting dragged into this situation. He had to choose his words carefully.

"We should get going." Koray finally said.

Hiei nodded. "You're going to explain on the way, right?"

"Yeah."

The two fire demons started to walk towards the nearest way out of the village. As they were exiting the village and coming to the large forest, they saw a group of figures running up to them.

Koray's expression then turned to anger. "Damn. Why do they show up now?"

In a moment, Hiei finally recognized the group people. It was Reuel, Cleitnese, and Archelaus followed by Kurama.

"Koray!" Reuel called out. "I figured you'd have come here."

"Is that so?" Koray said in a tone that implied he didn't want to talk.

"Yeah." Reuel continued. "Not long after you disappeared, Kurama showed up and explained to us that Hiei had been captured by the fire demons. So I figured you rushed over to save him, and we decided to come and lend a hand."

"Hiei, are you alright?" Kurama asked as he approached his friend, who still had many wounds to show from the last couple days.

"I'm fine." Hiei replied.

"Koray! What the hell did you do to this place?!" Archelaus demanded as he gazed upon the destroyed village of the fire demons.

"It looks like a massacre...." Cleitnese stated.

Koray hesitated for a moment, then replied, "I gave them exactly what they deserve."

"What was that?!" The three Generals exclaimed in unison.

"First they screw up my life, then they kidnap Hiei.... What did you think I was going to do?" Koray said, while turned away from his companions.

"That's funny...." Reuel said with a displeased tone. "You always said that revenge wasn't important to you."

"Forget that! Do you even realize what you've done?!" Archelaus exclaimed.

"Look.... I'm not going to try to hide what I've done here.... But right now I need to talk to Hiei. You guys make a portal and go back to the Island of Wind. We'll be there shortly."

The Generals hesitated for a moment, but finally conceded. They took Kurama and left, leaving Koray and Hiei alone to talk.