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Chapter 97

Fault

As Don Ghira's transformation was finished, he continued to stare at me with his gleaming yellow eyes while growling like a wild beast. Seeing him like this now made me feel a bit frightened, however at the same time, I couldn't help but feel like I've seen something like this before. But I didn't have time to think as Don Ghira pounced trying to swipe at me with his claws. I immediately dodged by stepping backward and backflipping away hoping to get some distance. But as soon as I landed back on the ground while looking up, I saw that Don Ghira had mysteriously disappeared.

"What the-! He's gone! Where'd he-"

Then I heard his voice whispering in my ear. "I'm over here."

I immediately jumped to my right as his claw grazed across my left hip. Then I felt a powerful blow hit me right on my shoulder sending me flying and tumbling along the rock. I flipped back onto to my feet as skidded across the rock managing to stop before I fell into the water. Shaking my head trying to get the dull ache out of my head, looked up in time for a fist to connect me square in my face. I yelled out in pain as I was sent flying across the cave and crashing the rocky wall causing the entire cave to tremble slightly.

Luckily before I hit the wall, I managed to sprout out my wings and use them to cushion the impact. However, that didn't stop the dull aching pain that I was feeling throughout my body. I could also feel my nose beginning to trickle blood forcing me to wipe the blood away with my hand.

"This is crazy... I couldn't even see him move and his strength is on a different level!"

As I pulled myself off from the wall, Don Ghira came shooting towards me his massive fist the size of a boulder raised. I sprung up spreading my wings as his fist slammed into the wall causing to explode in a cloud of dust and rubble causing the cave to once again tremble from the sheer force. I then landed a few feet away from the cloud of dust.

Then I suddenly remembered something back when I was a kid. It was back when Elfman and Lisanna were showing Mira their magic. This made me understand what Don Ghira just did and why it was so familiar, but I couldn't help but feel all the more surprised.

"Now I understand. You're using Take Over Magic, aren't you?"

The smoke cleared and Don Ghira turned around facing me. "How very perceptive of you. I take it you've seen this type of magic before," he said. "This is known as Beast Soul: Nightmare Wereleopard. I obtained this form a while back after I formed the Black Tiger guild. This body not only provides me with enhanced strength and speed, but it also provides me with other skills as well. Skills that helped me devour countless prey and grow stronger with each and every fight."

"Well isn't that convenient for you," I spoke with a hint of sarcasm. "You may be stronger, but that doesn't make you invincible!"

I held my hands open summoning a pair of water swords from my hands and with a yell, I shot straight at him with my swords at my sides. Don Ghira brandished his claws making them longer than before as he shot forward at me too. His claws and my blades clashed with sparks flying a little.

With a yell, I rapidly sliced and swung at him hoping to cut him at least a little, however using his claws, Don Ghira blocked and parried each and every one. No matter how hard or fast I was at the time, I couldn't get a single cut in.

Don Ghira then countered with a flurry of swipes with his claws. I did my best to parry and block the attacks, but he was so fast, I could feel a few nicks and pricks on various part of my skin from my arms to legs as I blocked and parried.

"You're not a bad swordsman. It's not every day that I see a fighter utilizing two swords," grunted Don Ghira. "But compared with my experience, you're abilities as a swordsman are meaningless!"

"We'll see about that!" I yelled.

I then attacked once more with my swords trying one more time to land a hit. Don Ghira once again parried and blocked every slash I threw. Then with a jump and a yell, I raised my swords above my head and brought them down with all of my strength only to have Don Ghira catch both blades with his bare hands.

I gripped my swords and tried to pull them away from his grip, but his grip remained tight. Don Ghira humphed smugly and squeezed his hands until my swords crumbled reverting into water.

My eyes widened in shock as I stared at my now broken blades only to have Don Ghira sweep my legs with his leg. I quickly caught myself with my hand stopping myself for falling, but Don Ghira immediately counterattacked by wrapping his tail around my neck tightly. I choked and I gurgled as I tried to pull his tail off of my neck, but it was no use.

Don Ghira using his tail lifted me off of my feet until I was hanging by his tail just in front of him. Don Ghira throatily chuckled as he clenched his fist. I thrashed around trying to get out of his iron grip, but it was no use. He pulled his fist back and then hit me right in my stomach in a powerful and hard blow. I yelled in pain again as I felt the wind get knocked out of me. Then he whipped his tail with all of his strength sending me flying once again towards the wall.

I was disoriented and in pain, but that didn't stop me from stopping myself from getting slammed again. Just before I hit the rocky wall, I flipped and shot water from the bottoms of my feet using the water to slow me down and cushion my landing. I landed back into the floor managing to save myself from any more pain, but I was doubled over in pain thanks to the punch I was given in the stomach.

"What's wrong? You finished already?" I heard Don Ghira called out. "Don't tell me this is all you got. Get up and fight. I know you still got some strength left."

I struggled as I got up to my feet trying to ignore the pain. Everything hurt and I even felt nauseous slightly as I huffed and puffed trying to catch my breath. Don Ghira had an eyebrow raised in surprise his mouth now in a thin line.

"Hm. You know, normally anyone who received a punch like that would keel over and start throwing up," he said. "But you somehow managed to remain standing. Allow me to commend you. You're tougher than I realized and are unlike the other prey I've devoured. But I'm not finished yet. The fun's just beginning. I still need to feast more. Let's keep going!"

I put up my fists about to defend myself from another onslaught, but then I heard something. The pitter patter of rapid footsteps which was coming towards us. Then we both heard a voice which was coming from a tunnel.

"Don Ghira! Don Ghira!"

I looked towards the tunnel as did Don Ghira. From there, a huge group of men came out from the cave all of which were members of the Black Tiger guild. When they came out into the open and as soon as they saw their leader, their eyes went wide with fright and amazement. They then began to cheer and shouting words of encouragement.

"Whoa! Check it out! Don Ghira's fighting in his Wereleopard form!"

"He's fighting that kid from the wanted poster and winning too! That's the boss for you!"

"Go get em, Don Ghira! Wreck that kid!"

"Oh no, you've got to be kidding me! As if things weren't bad enough around here!" I thought. "Now I got these jokers to deal with!"

Don Ghira then looked towards his followers a scowl etched on his face.

"What the hell are you lot doing here?" he growled in a low voice. "Should you be watching the slaves?"

"Well... we were Don Ghira, sir," spoke a Black Tiger wizard. "But we have a situation! There's a group of wizards running amok inside the caves freeing all the slaves!"

"There was a guy with pink hair that shot out flames everywhere!" said another. "And then there was a guy that stripped to his boxers using ice magic, and then there was this blond bimbo that summoned a cow man..."

Don Ghira then dropped his fighting stance and glared hard at his followers. "What happened to Mami and Bradley?! Why aren't they back here yet?!"

"They haven't returned yet, sir!" said a third Black Tiger wizard. "We haven't heard from them ever since they left to check on the wizards... that are running rampant, sir!"

"That sounds like Natsu and the others. Sounds like they're doing just fine. Good on them."

I felt relieved and happy that Natsu and the others were safe and were inside the caves fighting to free the slaves. Don Ghira, on the other hand, was completely silent. At first, I had no idea why he was being so quiet. Maybe he was stunned that his guild was tearing his plans apart by a group of wizards.

Suddenly he disappeared from view making it look like he vanished into thin air. I instinctively looked around left to right thinking that he was using his speed to go on the attack. Then I heard a loud scream, one that was filled with horror and pain. I immediately turned toward the source of the sound and what I saw made my eyes go wide with shock. Don Ghira was now all the way where his followers were and had his claw buried deep in one of his follower's guts piercing straight through his body. Everyone was completely frozen as Don Ghira pulled his hand back causing fresh blood to ooze out of the guy's stomach.

"Don Ghira... why... why did you..."

The stabbed fellow's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell down to the ground. Everyone stared at the men stared at the lifeless body of their comrade. Then they looked back at Don Ghira who simply stood there with a cold and neutral expression on his face. Then everyone turned on their heels and quickly started to run away fear completely taken over their hearts.

Don Ghira seeing them run crouched down and brandished his claws as he shot towards them making himself a blur. And almost before anyone had a chance to react, every single one of them was slashed and clawed as blood burst from the opened wounds. One by one, they all fell to the ground lifeless and stained red.

At this point, I was horrified for what I had just seen. This guy had just attacked his own men probably killing them all because they weren't able to follow through his orders. Out of all the evil and terrifying acts I've seen in my life, this one would definitely be the first.

Don Ghira then jumped back to where I was standing. "Sorry about that," he said. "Where were we?"

"What... what the hell did you just do?" I mumbled.

"Isn't it obvious? I killed my own men," said Don Ghira simply. "They screwed up so I had to punish them."

"But they were your own comrades!" I burst out. "How could you just take their lives just because they failed?!"

"Because they were weak and I have no need of them," Don Ghira said. "I can't exactly let them go free. Not to mention they would only get in the way, so it was for the best for me to kill them."

"You're... you're completely ruthless..." I said in disbelief. "How can anyone be that cruel and just kill like that?! Where's your sense of honor?!"

"Cruel? Now that's a bit rude. Boy, let me explain something to you and I want you to listen really carefully," said Don Ghira. "Strength means everything in this world. Those who have strength have power and reign supreme. Those who possess that strength are my prey, the only food that's capable of sating my hunger and those who get in the way of that are better off dead or devoured. I'll crush anyone who gets in the way of my meal, enemy or ally. That's how the ultimate predator hunts. Besides, honor means nothing to me. The only thing that matters is devouring my prey."

Feeling a bit of anger rush through my body, I gritted my teeth and balled up my hands into fists. My magic power coursed through my veins causing me to glow in a bright blue color.

"Why do you even care? How I operate my guild is none of your business," went on Don Ghira. "If anything, I would be a little bit more concerned with myself if I were you."

"But you're the guild master of those guys!" I protested. "Dark guild or not, a guild master's supposed to care and protect their members! Not kill them just because of one little mistake!"

Don Ghira then chuckled. "Care? Protect? What a bunch of ludicrous," he scoffed. "Those weaklings are nothing more but my pawns. A means to an end so to speak. As their guild master, it is up to me whether they deserve to live or to die. If I want them to fight, then they'll fight. If I want them to die, I'll kill them without any hesitation. That is how a Dark Guild operates. You should know this already considering that you were a member of a Dark Guild yourself."

At that point, I was quickly taken over by anger and shot forward cloaking my leg in magic and water. Don Ghira counterattacked with a roundhouse kick, but I jumped up placing my hands on his leg using it as a footing and then gave a mighty kick.

"WATER DRAGON TALON!"

Don Ghira stumbled as my kick slammed square in his jaw even making skidding backward a bit, but he didn't go down. He growled in anger and then threw a punch forcing me to cross my arms to block the blow. The blow hit me hard forcing me to skid backward. I then jumped up and released two powerful torrents of water from each of my hands.

"WATER DRAGON WING ATTACK!"

As the attack shot towards him, Don Ghira immediately took a giant leap dodging the blow getting just above my head. I looked up in time for him to swing his leg down sending me flying towards the platform below, but I spread my wings using them as parachutes to slow my decent as I landed on my feet. I looked up in time to see Don Ghira shooting down towards me with his claws raised.

"NOW YOU, DIE!" he yelled as he swung.

I jumped back just as his claw zipped right past me piercing the rock platform at my feet. The rock began to crack and crumble and exploded from the overwhelming force of his strength. Rock, rubble, and water blasted everywhere as I jumped landing on another rocky platform. Don Ghira then shot out of the dust towards me and attacked with both of his claws poised.

Seeing this as an opportunity, I raised my hand and slammed it into the ground.

"WATER DRAGON GEYSER WALL!"

And just as he was close enough to me, a huge blast of water erupted from the ground sending him backward. As the Geyser Wall continued to shield and cover me, I held out my hands making a pair of large and spinning shuriken appear.

"Now, WATER DRAGON DOUBLE STAR!"

I threw both stars as the Geyser Wall continued to shroud me. They both came straight through the Geyser Wall zipping through the air and right towards Don Ghira. Knowing that he would block them, I shot up using my Aqua Jet until I planted my feet on the stalactite on the ceiling. As I planted my feet, I looked down to see that Don Ghira was looking at the place where I unleashed the Geyser Wall. Seeing that he was distracted, I used my Aqua Jet again to shoot down towards him while cloaking my elbow with my magic.

"WATER DRAGON GUSHING ELBOW!"

Don Ghira looked up in time for my elbow to connect squarely into his abdomen. His eyes widened a bit as he hacked up a blob of spit gasping as he got the wind knocked out of him. Seeing that he was stunned by the blow, I saw this as an opportunity to go on the attack. While cloaking both my hands with water and with a loud yell, I unleashed a barrage of fast and strong Iron Fists attacking his face and finished by slamming him square on the head with a downwards kick sending him flying towards the lake. Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, I chuffed up my cheeks taking aim.

"WATER DRAGON ROAR!"

A huge blast of water erupted from my mouth hitting Don Ghira and sending him straight to the lake. A huge explosion of water shook the entire cave as it also rained down on me. I landed back on the ground while looking where I blast Don Ghira frowning as I observed the water.

"Normally, I'd wonder if that was enough to get him, but something's telling me that he's still kicking," I thought. "But that had to have caused some damage right?"

My answer came sooner than expected as Don Ghira came bursting out of the water and landed just in front of me. He had a few trickles of blood coming out of his mouth, and thanks to the white stripes on his black fur, I could also see that he had a couple of scratches and some blood too.

Don Ghira wiped his mouth and spat out the blood in his mouth all smiles.

"Well now, it seems that your power has increased a bit. Those hits actually hurt," he said. "Could it be because of your anger towards how I treat my guild? Or maybe it was due to the fact that I mentioned your past? How annoying."

"What does it matter to you?! You're nothing but a wild beast that just kills for the sport of it!" I yelled. "Not to mention that you've enslaved the people of this town and took away Sasuke's mother just so you could use her as a toy and satisfy your own greed! I'm going to make you pay for your crimes by breaking every last bone in your body!"

Don Ghira then laughed. "What blasphemy! You dare talk down to me, boy? Fine! If you wanna speak of crimes, then take a look at yourself in the mirror! You've committed just as many atrocities as I have if not more!"

"I what?" I asked involuntarily flinching.

"Don't play dumb. You know very well what I'm talking about," Don Ghira went on. "I've heard all about your little trial with the Magic Council and the fact that you got off scot-free because of your supposed proven innocence despite the charges against you. The way I see it, you may act like the good samaritan pretending to be the good guy, but in truth, you actually do remember your crimes. You just didn't want to be sent to jail alongside your fellow guildmates."

"You're wrong!" I shouted angrily. "I didn't kill anyone! I'm innocent! And those bastards were controlling me like a puppet, nothing more!"

"How can you say that for sure? After all, your memories are all mixed up due to you supposedly being controlled, isn't that right?" went on Don Ghira. "How can you say for sure that you didn't kill anyone while you were under the Seis' spell when you clearly don't remember being controlled to begin with?"

I clenched my fists tightly not being able to respond.

"That's what I thought. Don't you lecture me on my sense of honor and pride when you don't have either of those yourself! That's nothing short of hypocrisy!" continued Don Ghira pointing an accusing finger. "You're just can't accept the fact that your hands are stained with blood and you're nothing but a predator. A predator that people fear. A predator that thrives for killing. A predator like me."

I began to tremble in anger my fists clenching tighter and tighter almost breaking the skin and my blood was beginning to boil with rage.

"In fact, I bet you're in a legal guild so you can sink your teeth into some prey like those friends of yours," cackled Don Ghira. "Although, I can't really blame you. Those friends of yours look like they'll make a fine meal. I wonder which one would be worth tasting?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

At this point, I was overcome with anger making my magic aura explode with power and my body filled with adrenaline. I was so fed up with this guy, I wanted to wipe that attitude right off his face no matter how much magic power I expended. I shot forward at an incredible speed gunning straight for his face my hands being covered in water and magic once again. Don Ghira then ducked attempting to dodge, but I performed a feint and went from a punch to a spinning kick nailing him on top of his head. I then landed on my feet and clocked him in the jaw with an uppercut making some blood shoot from his mouth. Then while I was in the air, I twisted around and kicked him square in the gut making him cough up a mixture of his blood and spit as he was sent flying.

Not daring to give him a chance to counter, I spread my water wings and with a yell charged at him using all of my power and strength using my Aqua Jet increase my speed. I punched with an Iron Fist sending him flying to the right, then I dashed past him and gave him a Talon downward, and after that, I dashed past him again and nailed him with a Blade attack slashing him on his arm and then sent him flying with another Iron Fist attack. I kept on hitting and dashing until I sent him flying upwards. I then took this chance to shoot up one last time and then slammed into his abdomen with a double fist slam sending him straight to the lake below with a mighty splash.

"Now to land the finishing blow!"

I clenched my right hand into a fist charging up my magic power as I could. Ropes of water also began to shoot from the lake shrouding me into a ball that grew bigger and bigger. Truth be told, I hadn't used this attack on another wizard before, but I this point I didn't care. I was gonna destroy this guy no matter what. My magic power flared and I was cloaked in water as Don Ghira sat up having to have just regained his senses.

"You claim to be hungry! Well, let's see how hungry you are after you eat this!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART! AQUA LOTUS: SHARK SURGE FIST!"

I then unleashed the power of my secret art by shooting towards Don Ghira with my fist out and the water around me changing into a shark. The water shark let out a roar as I grew closer and closer to Don Ghira. Don Ghira looked up in time to be swallowed by the water shark and for my fist to connect square into his face hard. The overwhelming power shook the entire cave violently as the shark slammed into the wall exploding in water. Stalagtites fell and water once again sprayed everywhere as I landed back on the ground.

"Take that you jerk. That'll teach you to talk smack about me," I thought triumphantly. "Hopefully, he'll stay down."

I huffed and I puffed as the adrenaline slowly began to leave my body. At this point, I was spent. I used every ounce of my power and my magic to hit Don Ghira, but I wasn't sure if he was down for the count. I scanned the area where I last saw him fall until I saw his body on the ground seeming to be lifeless. I then sank to my knees feeling very exhausted and almost completely out of magic power.

"Man... I haven't felt this exhausted or beaten up since back in Edolas. I wish I could use my healing magic right now, but I'm too low."

I looked towards the lake which that was once plentiful with water but now gotten shallow due to the battle. It was now pretty much a large wading pool. I could drink the water to regain some of my stamina, but I wouldn't be able to a complete healing spell. Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.

"I need to get out of here as soon as possible and catch up with Natsu and the others. Hopefully, everyone's OK."

I then started walking slowly towards the tunnel leaving the battlefield behind me. But then I heard the loud of laughter. The laughter of which was coming behind me. I stopped walking feeling my blood grow cold as I slowly turned around.

"No... No way... It can't be. There's just no way!"

Sure enough, I saw Don Ghira back on his feet laughing seeming to be filled with joy. His body was even more battered and body than before, but he looked completely unfazed by the last attacks.

"Normally, people who lose their composure in battle are worthless," he said. "However, in your case, that makes you all the more entertaining. But now, I'm feeling a bit peeved. I was planning to leave you alive because of the bounty, but now I'm going to crush you now. Get ready."

He then disappeared from sight making me immediately on my guard. I whipped my head around trying to see where he went. Then I sensed him coming towards me from my blind spot to my right. I immediately turned around only to have his paw connect me square in my face making me immediately taste iron in my mouth and go flying toward the rocky wall.

I was a bit stunned by the blow but I quickly snapped out of it by shaking my head. I landed on a rock using it as a footing, sprung off from it, and shot towards Don Ghira letting out a yell while cloaking my hands in water. I threw an Iron Fist with my right hand only to have Don Ghira block the blow with his forearm allowing him to counterattack with a punch of his arm. I put up my arms barely managing to block the blow, but the force of it seemed a lot more powerful and heavier than usual. I then attacked with a flurry of Iron Fist attacks and Don Ghira blocked and parried each and every one.

"This is bad. Definitely bad! I'm too weak to put up a fight and Don Ghira's feeling hunky dory fine! I gotta find a way to retreat before he ends up killing me!"

I continued to throw punches and Don Ghira continued to block and parry until he then countered with a swipe of his claw. I immediately ducked his claws cutting a few centimeters off of my hair and then placed my hand on the ground in the shallow water.

"WATER DRAGON GEYSER WALL!" I yelled.

A huge geyser erupted from we both were standing. Thinking that this was my chance, I shot out from the geyser spreading my wings and flew towards the tunnel as fast as I could.

"Where do you think you're going?!" I heard Don Ghira yell. "You're not running away are you?"

Then just as I was looking back to see where he was, I felt a very powerful impact on top of my head making me scream in agony as I was sent flying from the force slamming into the ground hard. As I bounced a little from the impact, I quickly got back on my feet and made a break towards the tunnel. Don Ghira immediately reappeared in front of the entrance blocking my way. Not daring to stop, I let out a yell as I swung with an Iron Fist square in his face only for Don Ghira to stand there and take the punch completely unfazed.

He grabbed my arm with his massive hand and gripping it tightly making me yelp in pain. I tried to break free from his grip by punching and kicking, but like a bulldog with his toy, he wouldn't let go making him grip tighter and tighter and making the pain worse. Then being able to take this abuse anymore, my arm suddenly let out a sickening crack and I felt overwhelming pain from it making me scream in a loud and shrill voice. Don Ghira let out a humph while smiling as he let go of my arm and as I fell he gave me a wicked punch with his other hand sending me a few feet tumbling across the floor until I stopped myself standing upright. I looked up trying to see that Don Ghira had once again disappeared.

Suddenly, I felt something slash my right hip making me scream in pain as blood burst from the wound. Then I felt a blow on my left forearm, another slash on my right leg, and another blow on my left cheek. Due to my current state, I had no idea what was going on or where the attacks were coming from, but every attack made me weaker and more blood shoot out from my body. Soon enough, I was barely standing my clothes torn, dazed, confused, bloody, and about to collapse, so much so that I wasn't aware that Don Ghira was shooting towards me reading one more attack.

"Now this ends!" he yelled as he swiped both of his claws.

One minute, I felt a breeze shoot at my body. The next minute, my chest exploded with blood as five x-shaped wounds appeared on my upper body as my shirt was reduced to ribbons. I stood there motionless not even registering the attack hitting me. I stumbled trying to stay on my feet, but my body at this point couldn't take it anymore. Like a marionette whose strings had been cut, I fell the ground numb and completely lifeless. As I lied there, my wounds continued to ooze and bleed as the blood made a small pool around my body. I could also feel a lump in my throat as I rasped and wheezed struggling to breathe.

I then heard Don Ghira who appeared to be standing above. "What a pity. It seems that you've reached your limit," he said disappointment evident in his voice. "This is the fullest extent of your abilities. Are you really done or are you just gonna give up and die?"

My only response was a hacking cough as I tasted the iron of my blood come up my mouth. Don Ghira then sighed.

"Guess I'll take that as giving up and dying. What a disappointment," he said. "I was hoping that you would last a little bit longer. Oh well. At least you provided me with some good entertainment especially when you got angry before, but now I'm done with you. It's time for me to move on to other prey. Perhaps maybe your friends and those slaves I've been keeping here would provide me with better entertainment."

I glanced upward with one eye open as Don Ghira stared down at me a frown etch. I couldn't let him walk away. If I did, he would hunt down any person he would come across and would kill them on sight. I wasn't even sure that Natsu and the others would stand a chance against this monster's brute strength.

"No! No! Don't black out now! You can't! You have to get up! Come on! Move!"

But no matter how much I screamed at myself to move, my body wouldn't budge an inch. Everything felt colder and my body felt heavier as I started to slip into the darkness. Then I overheard Don Ghira talking to himself.

"What a waste. And here I was having some fun for the first time in a while," I heard him say. "Although, I didn't expect him to knock me back when I pissed him off earlier. It seems like his magic power increases in response to his emotions. Hmm. That gives me an idea. Maybe I should play the emotion card with those wizards and get them mad too. That way, I can get an even better challenge from them and I think I'll start with Sasuke by killing his precious mother."

The moment he said those words, my eyes immediately snapped open as Don Ghira cackled about his plan.

"Yes. That's perfect. Since I still have Sasuke's mother, I can do whatever I please with her," he said maliciously. "Once I get my hands on her, I'll chew on her a bit just to get Sasuke riled up and once he sees his mother's body defiled by me, he'll go completely insane with rage and his power grow immensely. As for the boy's every one of them appears to be strong, except for those cats and girls. Maybe I should toy with them too. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. What better feeding ground can a predator ask for?!"

The only sound I could hear was my heartbeat. It pumped and thumped ringing loud in my ears. In my mind, I could see a memory playing in my mind. A memory that scarred me and still haunted me even till this very day. The memory when my home, Nomekop was wiped out. The day I lost my home, my friends, and most of all my Mama and my Papa.

This guy was planning to kill Sasuke's mother all because he wanted Sasuke to fight him with his full power? Not only that, but he was also planning on using the same tactic by fighting Natsu and the others.

Was this it? Was I going to lie here and die and allow him to kill the others?

No. Not this time. There was no way in hell that I would allow that to happen. If I did, it would be all my fault because I wasn't able to stop him. Because I've allowed an enemy that was after me get to my friends. I've had enough of people getting hurt because of me. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt or dragged into my problems. I was going to stop this guy no matter what even if I was going to die.

I wanted it to end. I wanted to stop this guy from killing any more people!

I wanted more power to stop him! I wanted the power to stop the madness!

The sound of my heartbeat grew louder and faster and the cold feeling was slowly being replaced by a warm and hot feeling. Then everything went quiet.

NO POV

Inside the world of Willy's mind, Willy was still lying on the ground seemingly lifeless.

Then the shadow of a large entity appeared its eyes opening just above him. The eyes then glanced down towards Willy.

"It would appear that he's growing desperate," the entity said. "Hmph. I suppose I should give him a bit of a push. I can't afford to have him die."

The entity then raised its hand and reached down towards Willy until its fingertip was touching the center of Willy's back. Then from its fingertip, a strange wave rippled through Willy's body as his body began to glow.

Don Ghira continued to walk on feeling excited to go on the hunt for his next meal, but then he stopped. For he sensed that a certain someone was back on his feet fully standing. He looked back and sure enough, Willy was slowly getting back on his feet.

"Well, well. Look who's back up, he said.

"I... I won't let you..." Willy spoke a quiet but firm voice. "I won't... let you get to them. Your fight... is with me. Got it?"

"I'm impressed that you were able to get up after all that, but sadly you don't have the strength to fight me nor do I take orders from you," Don Ghira spoke. "Your body's torn to shreds and you look like you're about to keel over, but if you wanna die that badly, then so be it. I'll make your death quick and painless in honor of your guts. And once I kill you, your friends are next. Then you can all spend your time in hell for all of eternity."

He turned around facing Willy fully and pounced towards him his fist raised and ready to crush him. Just when he was about to finish the boy off with a single devastating punch, Willy immediately tilted his head to the right dodging the incoming blow. Then while clenching his left fist, he swung and slammed Don Ghira right in the muzzle sending the beast back a few feet twirling in the air before hitting the ground. Don Ghira groaned in pain as he held his now bleeding muzzle as he looked up at the boy surprised that he was able to counter him in his weakened state.

Suddenly Willy's entire body was shrouded in a magic aura. A magic aura that was colored black with blue tinges.

"I won't let it happen... I won't let anyone else get hurt because of me," Willy continued. "No... I refuse to let it happen again..."

The ground around him began to tremble and some pieces rock began to levitate disintegrating into nothing.

Don Ghira looked on with interest and some slight surprise. "What's going on? His magic power is increasing," he thought.

Willy then looked towards Don Ghira, his eyes blank and the irises and pupils completely vanished. Then Willy's magic aura exploded as he let out a thunderous and bellowing scream making almost the entire cave tremble. At the same time, the irises and pupils returned to his eyes, but they were now in a green color with a slit in the middle. As his magic power continued to rage violently and make the cave tremble, Willy glared at Don Ghira his face completely filled with overwhelming rage as he roared in a rage-filled and bestial voice.

"DON GHIRA! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

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Dragoman signing off!