"It has been three days since Flare and Seryu Ubiquitous had taken a girl named Periwinkle to an orphanage. And now Flare was on his own doing some personal business."

Flare was dressed in his Imperial Grunt armor and stood still within a large field of ruin within the lower districts of the capital. He stood on pavement while gazing at the crescent moon within the night sky for a short while, until he felt a disturbing presence from behind. He turned half his body around to see a grinning man with a white coat, black tie and a green Teigu on his forehead. His name was Zanku and is a self-proclaimed Butcher.

"Is there something you need?" Flare asked.

"Yes. If you don't mind, please. Let me have your head." Zanku said as he drew two blades from his sleeves and crossed his arms.

"Sorry, but I like having my head on my body. It makes me feel taller and confident." Flare joked as he placed his right hand on top of his head. "And plus, I already know who you are, Zanku."

Zanku chuckled. "Do you?"

"Yeah. And I know you like taking people's heads as trophies. And there's no way I'm gonna let you take mine!" Flare said.

"Come on, be a pal. I promise to treat your decapitated head with love, Flare." Zanku said.

"You know me, as well?"

"I do. You're that new Imperial grunt who's running around town and trying to stop crime wherever he goes." Zanku said.

'He does have a point.' Flare thought to himself.

"Bingo! That, I do." Zanku replied after reading Flare's thoughts.

"Hm?" Flare paused. 'He just read my mind...' Then, he stared at the green eye looking Teigu on Zanku's forehead. 'That thing on his forehead must be a...'

"Bingo, again! This Teigu on my head is called Spectator. And one of its five specialties is "Insight". I can tell what a person is thinking based off their facial expressions. It makes me observant to the extreme. Zanku said.

"Really... well, I can't believe someone as crazy as you have it." Flare pulled out an Imperial sword.

"Bingo, agai-"

"Enough with the Bingos!" Flare yelled.

"Alright, fine. But before I decapitate you, should I give you a shrunken head for guessing right?" Zanku asked.

"No way! The only thing I'm taking tonight... is that bounty with your name on it!" Flare then rushed toward Zanku.

"While you're charging at me, I'd like to inform you that I used one of Spectator's abilities, "Far-Sight" to find you. No matter how dark or foggy... I can see from a long distance!" Zanku dodged Flare's swing.

Flare slid on the pavement after missing his swing.

"Delightful! Did you think you could land a hit, if I kept talking?" Zanku asked, then pointed at Spectator on his forehead. "I'm still using Spectator to read your mind! Have you forgotten?"

'No!' Flare thought, while charging at Zanku, preparing to deliver more swings at him.

"First, you're gonna try to slash, sideways." Zanku blocked Flare's vertical swings with his bladed. "Then, you're going to try and go for my right arm." Zanku dodged Flare's second attack by a hair. "And then, you're try and go for my ankles!" Zanku jumped two feet off the ground, dodging Flare's attack, then slashed downwards, putting an X slash on Flare's upper chest, cutting through his chest plate.

Flare gasped as he felt the critical injury upon his chest. A bit of blood spilled on the ground while Flare fell on his knees. 'He's different from the people I've faced in the past.' Flare grunted.

"Whenever I decapitate people, they make the greatest expressions ever! The look of fear and remorse, too! And how they looked like, eh?" I wonder, what type of facial expression will you making?"

Flare gripped his sword's hilt tightly, then blitzed and clashed blades with Zanku. "You're not going to see me give one!"

Meanwhile in a smaller town, Captain Ogre had sent off two men dressed in robes after taking their bribery. "Thanks again, guys! If you need me, I'll be here!" He then snickered.

Flashback

"Hey, Flare. You said you'd take any job, right?" Captain Ogre while sitting at his desk in his office. "Check this." Ogre then threw a piece of paper at Flare, who caught it.

"It's wanted Dead or Alive poster. And the person on it is called... Zanku?" Flare asked.

"In the underworld, he is known as, Zanku the Decapitator." Captain Ogre stated.

"Decapitator?"

"Yes. Zanku attacks people at random and collect their heads as a reward."

Flare silently gasped. 'I've heard of that. Now, I'm starting to know who he is now.'

"A long time ago, Zanku used to be an executioner in the largest prison in the capital. But word has it that he had gone mad, then went into town and started murdering people at random, leaving nothing but decapitated bodies behind." Ogre stared.

"A subjugation force was organized to catch him but have yet to succeed. We already lost six good soldiers to this maniac." Ogre stated. "And now..."

"You want me to catch him?" Flare asked.

"Dead or alive." Ogre said, then hid a sinister smile from him.

End Flashback

'I wonder... how's that kid, Flare doing right about now?' Captain Ogre thought.

Meanwhile, Flare kept clashing blades with Zanku. "I do like ambitious people like you, Flare. In fact, I think I'll mount your head on my wall, above everyone else's!" Zanku grinned, then thrusted his blade toward Flare multiple times, causing a number of scratches and cuts to his upper body, such as the arms, shoulders, left cheek and upper chest.

Flare moaned, then dropped his Imperial sword in front Zanku.

"I must say. I've gotten you good."

"What are you talking about now?" Flare slowly asked.

Zanku pointed at Flare. "It's music to my ears when a Wanna-Be tough guy begs for mercy. That is why I'm taking my time with you." Zanku said.

"Really? That's why?" Flare asked.

"Yes. Now start begging me! Maybe you buy me time until reinforcements come along, eh?" Zanku said.

Flare slowly grabbed his weapon. "Screw you." he slowly stood in front of Zanku, feeling hurt. "You're just a crazy serial killer with a dangerous Teigu who likes murdering innocence for fun." Flare told Zanku. 'For all the innocent men, women and children... who were all wrongfully sent to prison and died in the streets by this maniac...' he then glared at Zanku. "I'm going to avenge all of them, by taking you down!" Flare yelled.

Zanku paused.

'If he can read my mind, then I'll just try to stop thinking and just do. I'm going to try and let my body do the thinking instead of my brain. That way, I'll take him down.' Flare then took a deep breathe.

"Oh, so you're trying to shut off your mind. I'm afraid it won't work, you see?"

"Yeah, I know. You already said that." Flare said.

"Your wounds must be feeling like crazy. You should be grateful that you are about to be decapitated by an executioner, like myself." Zanku smiled.

"Here goes!" Flare then blitzed toward Zanku with more speed than he anticipated.

Zanku gasped.

Flare let out a roar when he struck at Zanku, then jumped passed him.

Zanku rubbed the blood from the cut on his right cheek. 'That little-he was just pretending to be as slow, like everyone else.'

"About time I got one hit on you." Flare said, while looking back at him. He then gasped when he felt a heavy injury on his upper backside. This injury made him stand, barely. "Heh." Flare slowly turned toward Zanku and hid his left hand behind his back and pointed his right hand directly toward Zanku. "And here, I thought you were an expert decapitator. I guess you aren't as dangerous as people hoped you to be." Flare taunted Zanku.

This struck a nerve in Zanku's mind, and a vein appeared on Zanku's left forehead. "Shut your damn mouth!" he yelled and charged toward Flare with such speed as he was ready to decapitate Flare's head.

As soon as Zanku got in close range, Flare cracked a smile. 'Bingo.'

"Hm?" Zanku was thrown off a bit as he heard Flare think of the word, 'Bingo.' Then he gasped.

Without warning, Flare had generated fire from his left palm and thrusted it in front of Zanku's face. Unleashing a powerful flamethrower attack and hitting Zanku from close range. 'Right where I want you.' After six seconds, Flare stopped firing and jumped a few yards back. By the time the smoke cleared, Flare looked and saw Zanku had blocked his face with his arms. His trench coat had been critically burned by his attack and Zanku, himself suffered a few minor burns to his skin. His clothes under were okay. "How's that for a surprise attack?"

"Tch!"

"It wasn't strong enough to kill you, but it did catch you by surprise." Flare joked in front of Zanku.

Zanku growled at Flare, then calmed himself down. "Tell me. You waited until now-just to use your Teigu against me. Didn't you?" Zanku pointed one of his blades at Flare.

"That's right. I knew you would read my thoughts with that Spectator thing on you head," Flare pointed at Zanku's Spectator. "So I did my best and tried not to think of it at all." Flare said.

"How dare you hide the fact that you hid a Teigu from me!" Zanku shouted in anger. "After everything I've showed and told you, you're just now using a Teigu in the heat of battle?"

"Well, yeah. I-"

"I'm not only going to decapitate you for deceiving me, but I'm also gonna chop your body to pieces!" Zanku shouted.

"Look, buddy. You're not the brightest person in the capital. Unlike you, I don't go around cutting off people's heads. Nor do I go out and show and tell my Teigu or what it does to just anybody." Flare stated.

"Oh, but there's one ability you have yet to see..." Zanku said after he calmed down.

"What?"

"Illusion Sight!" Zanku shouted, then activated Illusion Sight, which caught Flare in a trans.

Flare stood still as he could not believe what he was seeing. While trapped within Zanku's "Illusion Sight" a slender and average height woman appeared in front of him. She had fair skin, long light brown hair tied to a low braid where it rests on her right shoulder, while there is a red headband on her head with bangs swept to the left side and had hazel eyes. She wore a long white skirt that goes down to her ankles, a long sleeved white buttoned shirt under a dark brown. And some short brown shoes.

"M-Marry?" Flare stuttered as his body froze in shock and continued gazing at the illusion of the woman in front of him. Flare then sudden started seeing flashbacks of himself and her, when he was younger.

"Looks like it worked. Illusion Sight makes you see the people you love most. And no matter how skilled you are, no one can bring themselves to kill those close to them!" Zanku started charging toward Flare in the appearance of Marry with two meat carving knives. "Say goodbye to the one you love most, because it's the last thing you'll do!"

But before Zanku could deliver another blow, Flare quickly snapped out of the trans that he was just placed in and immediately struck the illusion of Marry in the lower chest with his right fist.

Zanku grunted as he had blocked Flare's attack, then slid backwards a few yards from Flare. 'He didn't hesitate to attack!' Zanku noted as Flare continued glaring at him. "What's going on! You were supposed to see the one you loved most!"

Flare exhaled some air. "Kind souls don't kill one another. That's what Marry taught me, before she died." he said in a dark tone.

Zanku gasped. 'Kind souls don't kill one another?'

Flare pointed his left index finger at Zanku. "I know all of your attacks, now. And there's no way you're escaping me."

"Don't be foolish! You're in no shape or form to be thinking of defeating me with those wounds on your body!"

"All these wounds on me, was because I let you do this. Just so that I can see how you fight." Flare said, normally.

"What?"

"There was a guy who told me, before, that if you think you're gonna fight someone stronger, learn how they fight." Flare told Zanku.

'He wasn't just hiding his Teigu from me... he was also observing me from the beginning of our battle?' Zanku thought.

Flare's wounds all over his upper body began healing, automatically as steam appeared. The wounds were closing by themselves, but the blood stains were still on his uniform.

Zanku gasped and looked surprised. 'His wounds are healing on their own, and he can use fire... who in the hell really is this guy?'

"You used your Teigu to make me see someone I truly cared about. Which means you're the lowest of the low." Flare said.

"Am I?" Zanku prepared to fight Flare again.

Flare cracked his knuckles and his golden eyes gleamed at Zanku with anger. "Yes. And by doing that, you've just pissed me off." Flare blitzed toward Zanku within a second.

Zanku silently gasped as he quickly spotted Flare in close range, but his body was too slow to react. 'He's faster than before!'

Flare quickly grabbed Zanku's wrists, then headbutted him in the face. Causing Zanku's nose to bleed due the impact. Spectator quickly flew hundreds of feet high in the sky after Zanku got headbutted.

'I lost Spectator!' Zanku thought as his eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head.

Flare then broke Zanku's wrist blades by gripping too hard and breaking them. Then, Flare delivered powerful blow after blow onto Zanku's upper body, until he hit his chest which caused him to gasp out blood and send him flying over a dozen miles until he hit a rocky wall. In the next six seconds, Zanku collapsed onto the cold hard ground, falling unconscious.

Flare stood and stared at Zanku as he collapsed onto the ground. "That should be more than enough to teach him not to kill." Flare then thought of something important. "Oh?" he looked up and saw a green object fall from the sky in his direction. He quickly caught the object and saw it was Spectator. 'So, this is Spectator. The Teigu that can read thoughts. How did he even get this?' Flare glanced over at Zanku, who was still unconscious. He then sighed. "No time to be wondering. Time to lock up this maniac."

Captain Ogre continued roaming through the dark streets all alone. As he walked, he couldn't help but think of one of his clients, Gamal.

Flashback

Four days prior, Captain Ogre was roaming through the jail halls, until he spotted one of his clients, Gamal standing behind a jail cell.

"Ogre! You gotta help me!" Gamal screamed as he stretched one of his hands through the bars.

"Gamal? What the hell are you doing in here?" Captain Ogre surprisingly asked.

"One of your grunts is the reason I'm in here!"

"Grunts? Which one?"

"That new grunt, called Flare. He caught me trying to strangle a woman to death and arrested me on the spot! I even tried bribing him off, but he refused and still locked me up!"

'Did he?' Captain Ogre placed a hand on his chin and thought of something. "Don't worry, Gamal. I'll deal with him, once I get you out here."

"Thank you so much!" Gamal smiled and felt relieved.

End Flashback

'That kid Flare thinks he's some kind of hero, doesn't he? Going around and trying to destroy all of the hard work I built over the years.' He then cracked a smile on his face. 'I'm glad I sent him on that suicide mission to try and catch Zanku. Just as I sent those six previous grunts who were slain by Zanku. It's a shame that Flare has to be number seven.'

"Excuse me, sir."

"Huh?" Captain Ogre's thought process had been interrupted by someone he didn't recognize. He turned his body around to see two people in white robes standing in front of him.

"What do you the both of you want?" Captain Ogre asked.

"There's something we would like to discuss with you in private." One of the individuals in white had said.

I'm still continuing the story. The life and fate of a woman name Marry will be explained in the long run.