Center of the Homeless maze,
"Do you still feel unworthy,Tharros?",Tharros glowered at him.
He wasn't surprised,the giant's ruthlessness hadn't changed since the last time they met.
Truthfully, he was exhausted.
He had cleared almost all the monsters from the doorway he used and hoped Victor wouldn't encounter anyone he couldn't handle.
"What is the cause of your concern?"he replied hesitantly,he didn't want Andriea to notice his tiredness.
"You haven't changed at all,so have I….we have so much in common why don't we stop the fight and search for the truth together?"Andriea ended with a smirk.
Tharros gave an unimpressed look,to him Andriea always spoke egotistic nonsense.
"What we have in common is unworthiness, what we have in common is how where we found ourselves made us who we are.
For this reason,I sacrificed my chances for the revelation that took the lives of my friends.
I was met with a different discovery;we were nothing alike.
You've been protecting and projecting something all this while"
Andriea was flabbergasted.
"you got to the Omniscient tree?"
"Yes….. before you, your reckoning lies in my fists"
Andriea's fists lit with fire.
"What is this confidence you've gained from the lie you were told?"
Tharros in turn set himself in a fighting position.
"I'm aware,back in New Lycia you were an author of confusion before you journeyed here."
After saying this he jumped,kicking the flame off Andriea's fists.
"Tell me, what is it you're hiding?"
Andriea held the leg and clobbered him to the floor.
"Now you tell me what you're hiding, you redeemed reject!!"
"Bring me back to life first" said Tharros as he dusted his cloak, removing it completely, revealing his huge muscles
"Or should I take you to die with me?"
*********************************************
Maze pathway,
It was unknown how far the path was,he couldn't hear any noise to at least have a mental picture of how Tharros fared.
Questions popped up in his mind,how were they able to gain access to the wilderness before him and his troops? were they some secret special grade brownies? Or did his brother organize this?
He didn't think it were possible for Vincent to look for outside sources, otherwise he wouldn't have been here in the first place.
Up until now,he had no difficulty running through the maze, so far he just went on a straight line.
No doubt, the voice of Tharros telling him not to look back echoed in his ears from time to time.
A part of his mind was determined to obey, on the other hand he thought about the possibilities of what could creep out of the darkness behind him if he disobeys.
He reminded himself he was the last line of hope,so his chances shouldn't be toyed with by curiosity.
Coming to a brief stop,as he saw a cracked wall.
All this while, the necklace didn't make any sign for him to smash it or do any other thing.
Once again he began questioning if his trust in Tharros was not idiocy.
The wall did look like a dead end, and the crack didn't seem like what would lead to anywhere safe, something dangerous must have forced itself inside it.
A strange thing occured during the period victor's eyes toured what was in front of him: the necklace started pushing him towards the hole,his efforts to go back were futile.
He was left with no choice than to remove it,that too turned out horrid.
A spark transferred from the beads into his arms, it's skin contact led to an excruciating pain, making him let out a wail.
Victor himself knew it was inappropriate he quickly covered his mouth with his palm, going in without hesitation.
It wasn't even as tight as he imagined,it was an open space rather.
He was happy the tension didn't harness the little comfort he called his own.
All he called his own was ephemeral including that present happiness, the entire maze started to crumble, he sped up to escape from being crushed by the falling boulders.
He succeeded and found himself in an open space again.
Unfortunately, the "maze-quake" didn't stop.
To top it off, noises of hidden monsters were heard,they were all woken up by his scream.
They kept coming, resulting in him leaping instead of running.
He was further ahead of them, but only for a short period.
Soon enough he miscalculated his leaps and tumbled on himself, slamming his head to the wall and accidentally looking back.
A hoard of red eyes glared at him, even if he couldn't figure out what they were,he knew they were ready to tear him limb for limb.
He added pressure to his legs and leaped again, higher than before.
The landing was quite unstable since his body wasn't able to take such power at once,he tried leaping again but all his strength was gone.
Shadows of the creatures met up with and covered him, finally killing him.
***********************************************
The fighting space was already a mess before Andriea went head to head with his "Old friend".
He expected it to be over after a few hits, but Tharros wasn't backing down at all, in fact he behaved much more insanely than their last meeting.
Andriea underestimated him, however he saw this as the ultimate test of how firm he'll stand on his word.
Andriea had knocked Tharros off before,he collapsed in between cracked walls on the floor.
Like a miracle, Tharros regained consciousness even if the hit was lethal.
Andriea watched in awe as he walked towards him.
He knew Tharros had something dangerous in mind,so he had to come up with a brief distraction.
"What do foul beasts get in return for their inappropriate behavior?"he got no reply, rather he heard a grawl,no other person was there apart from the both of them "Could it be the effect of my punches?"
He thought to himself as he lifted a large rock and set it on fire, waiting to to see if he'll get any reaction from Tharros.
Tharros only stared at him on all fours,
Andriea threw the rock, aiming at Tharros head.
Tharros broke it with his head, resulting in an explosion.
Particles of the rock containing sparks flew in different directions,all ending in a huge blast that brought down the platform which they stood on.
Andriea clung himself to the wall while the surface fell apart,he was sure the boulders compressed Tharros.
He landed on top of them and began checking for any chance of sighting his dead body.
A few turns around the place nothing was present,he concluded his enemy was crushed to pieces.
His mind was not at rest even if he was sure about Tharros demise,he felt he couldn't go that easily.
His intuitions were absolutely correct,he was grabbed by the waist and slammed to the ground with his head by none other than Tharros himself.
The slam made way for another explosion,making Andriea unhurt.
Once again Tharros got up,
Unhurt as well.
Andriea was in awe and confused at the same time.
He found constantly being overwhelmed tiresome,this kick-started something in him.
Becoming hotter than ever and sparks all over his armor.
Tharros leaped and gave him a kick on the chest.
The kick didn't actually land directly on his chest, it ignited the spark blasting him away.
The sparks on Andriea's armor were meant to slash anyone who attempts to strike him.
Upon the lethality of the first spark, Tharros revived without a scratch on his body.
Andriea headed for his chest, but Tharros was faster and landed three blows equal to three ignited sparks.
This time he didn't just prevent the sparks from pushing him backward,he neutralized the effects of their explosive impact totally.
Andriea gathered all the sparks to form a long whip, and whipped him on the head, destroying it in the process.
The outcome wasn't according to his expectations, it was supposed to disintegrate his target.
Yet nothing happened to Tharros,it was Andriea that felt the damage instead.
The impact was so massive, Andriea created a deep hole amongst the rocks.
He decided to not stand up and have a breathing moment.
"Why surrender now seed of Eleutheros?your verdict isn't over" Tharros broke his overdue silence.
Unpleasant reflections replayed in Andriea's head as "Eleutheros" was mentioned.
"You buried those memories long time ago,this time around you'll be buried along with them" Tharros said mockingly, followed by a loud laughter.
Andriea was about to climb back up when cluster of rocks started descending from above,it was clearly Tharros doing.
He climbed swiftly filled with rage, turning the large rocks to bits with his kicks,he also used them as a means to reach the main ground faster.
A large portion of the bits scattered across the room, the entire room was lit up in flames.
Andriea returned sucessfully, he was certain Tharros could not survive a flaming rainstorm that huge.
He wouldn't be surprised if he survived as always.
Andriea started thinking of what next to do so he could discern Tharros exact limits.
He sensed something else coming from above,it was another rock.
He caught the rock this time, preparing to throw it back.
Two more were falling,he threw the one he had to destroy the first one and punched the second one.
Unknowing to him,Tharros was already there and used his own special move against him.
The blow was so devastating that Andriea trembled, falling on his knees.
To regain his lost energy,he summoned all the flames to his armor.
Tharros became excited after seeing this,he assumed it was some type of power up "That's more like it….. reconcile with your past identity…. Make Eleutheros proud."
Andriea frowned at this statement.
"Survivors don't have masters;they master themselves with what is available."
"Well then,perfect your self mastery with me"Tharros said as he leveled the ground with his feet, breaking it apart.