Quinn watched her silently as he gave a cunning smile.
"There it is."
Virelle's body blurred. The ground beneath her feet exploded. She shot forward like a released arrow, leaving cracks racing across the ruined street. She knew her flow was useless against him. Anger and rage took over her mind.
All rational thought left Virelle's mind. Whenever she gazed into Quinn's eyes, she saw Leon kneeling in the midst of the blood, saw the lifeless body of the woman lying down on the ground, and she heard the derisive laughter reverberating around the town. There was so much rage coursing through her veins that there was nothing else but that feeling. She wasn't aware of any of the injuries anymore. The throbbing pain in her broken arm did not matter anymore. All that she cared about at the moment was burying Quinn under the ground. She understood that her attacks were careless; she understood that her strikes did not contain the same precision that her master had taught her over the years. But that simply did not matter to her anymore, every strike was infused with her own rage, with her own despair as she tried to wipe that man out of existence. Otherwise, if she ever stopped, then she would die, so will Leon. She would have to look at Leon's dead body lying beside her. So she kept attacking, pouring all her anger into her blade, hoping that somewhere between her rage and desperation, she could make Quinn bleed.
Quinn's eyebrows rose slightly.
Her blade carved through the air with enough force to tear apart the rubble in its path. Yet Quinn merely tilted his head. The blade missed only by inches. Virelle turned around immediately and swung again.
Then again.
Then again.
Every strike carried enough force to split stone. Every strike was faster than the last. But Quinn avoided them all.
One step.
Another.
A slight turn of his shoulder.
A small movement of his neck.
His expression remained relaxed.
"Pathetic."
Virelle screamed out loud as she and unleashed a barrage of attacks. The street shattered beneath her assault. Chunks of stone were launched into the air.
Then-
Quinn vanished from sight. A hand emerged from the cloud and grabbed her wrist. Virelle's eyes widened and Quinn stood before her completely unharmed.
"You're rage is amusing."
His grip tightened.
"But sadly, you're weak."
A sickening crack.
Virelle cried out as Quinn twisted and hurled her into the ground. The impact shattered the stone beneath her.
Before she could rise—
A boot slammed into her stomach. "Aaah!" The air exploded from her lungs. Her body bounced across the street, crashing through a pile of rubble.
Quinn slowly walked towards her as Virelle forced herself up.
He sighed.
"Still?"
Black chains erupted from the shadows wrapping around her body. The eyes embedded within them blinked open.
Virelle struggled but the chains didn't move. Quinn approached her.
"Look at yourself."
He crouched slightly.
"You expected to beat me... with this?"
Virelle strained against the chains with everything she had but they didn't budge one bit.
Quinn started laughing as he looked at the pathetic state of both Virelle and Leon. "Warriors of Svalor they said.
Virelle felt something break. The chains threw her.
Her body flew through the air. She crashed through the remains of a building and disappeared beneath the rubble.
Silence fell.
Quinn glanced toward the dust cloud.
"...Disappointing." He mocked as he walked towards Leon, who was still broken. He went on his knees. "Look kid, this is the future. This is your future." He mocked as Leon started at the woman he killed. "This... this is Svalor's future. Revenge... it should be taken exactly like this. We'll make you kill yourselves, only then will our hunger be satisfied. This tale of revenge shall be served cold."
Leon's pupil started to shake.
"Revenge?"
"Svalor is the victim."
"We are supposed to take revenge... so why...?"
Leon's mind snapped, his eyes turned as he looked at the man laughing at him.
And suddenly-
"Dead men tell no tales." Leon muttured as took a hold of his sword. Quinn kicked him, sending him flying across the street. "Dead? Me?" He laughed, spreading his hands wide. "The only one dying will be Svalor!"
Leon's body slammed into the ruined street.The impact knocked the air from his lungs.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't move.
Rain began to fall. Eventually getting heavier.
Cold droplets struck the blood coating his face, washing crimson trails across the cracked stone beneath him. Leon stared blankly at the dark sky.
It felt as if-
As if he were sinking beneath deep water.
Virelle's defeat.
The dead woman he had killed.
Quinn laughing.
Everything replayed inside his mind.
Again.
And again.
And again.
His fingers twitched weakly around the hilt of his sword. Yet he couldn't even lift it.
"Pathetic."
The word echoed through his mind.
"Pathetic. Weak. Useless."
"If only..."
His lips parted.
"Only if I had..."
Blood stained the corner of his mouth.
"More power..."
Rain fell harder as his vision started to blur.
"Only if I had..."
His voice cracked.
"...a Flow."
Silence.
Then—
Leon's eyes slowly widened.Someone was standing before him. A tall motionless figure.
The rain seemed unable to touch him.
Darkness concealed most of his features, but he was blonde. Something about him felt ancient. The figure stood with his hands behind his back, staring down at Leon.
Leon felt his heartbeat stop.
"W-Who...?"
The words barely escaped his lips.
"Who are you...? Are you... Stranger"
The stranger said nothing. Thunder rumbled across the sky. The rain continued to pour.
Then the figure slowly raised his head and spoke.
"Draen."
The single word echoed through the storm.
The world went grey and suddenly-
A bolt of lightning tore through the heavens.
----------------------
The lightning faded. Rain continued to pour over the ruined street. Smoke drifted from the crater left behind by the strike.
Quinn stood still.
His eyes remained fixed on Leon. He was confused.
"...What was that?"
Leon lied motionless at the center of the crater.
Quinn frowned.
The lightning was real. He knew it was.
Yet nothing had changed. Slowly, he began walking forward. His boots splashed through puddles of rainwater.
The chains hanging from his arms swayed lightly. Leon remained completely still. Quinn stopped beside him. For several seconds, he simply stared. Yet nothing happened.
"...Dead?"
He glanced down one last time, then turned away.
"What a waste."
The instant he took his first step—
His instincts screamed as his eyes widened. A sharp whistle cut through the rain behind him. He turned around as sparks exploded into the darkness. A sword had already reached him. Quinn barely managed to throw his chains up in time. The impact shook the street as his feet left the ground.
"What—?!" He screamed
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted outward. The stone beneath him shattered.He got launched backwards. Rainwater exploded into the air as he tore across the ruined road.
His boots dug into the stone. Deep trenches formed behind him. Yet the force refused to stop.
Buildings trembled as rubble rained from above. Finally, the pressure vanished. Quinn slid to a halt. Rain poured from the heavens as Quinn slowly lowered his chains.
Leon stood across the street, his sword hanging loosely in his hand. Rain poured relentlessly from the dark heavens above, washing the blood from his body and dripping from the edge of his blade. His eyes remained closed. Not in pain, nor exhaustion, but simply closed, as though he had no need to see. Quinn slowly lowered his chains, his gaze fixed upon the boy. Something was wrong. The Leon from moments ago had been broken, crushed beneath guilt and despair. This figure felt entirely different. There was no anger or fear in his expression, no desperation in the way he stood. The storm raged around him, yet he seemed untouched by it, standing amidst the rain like a monument. An unsettling aura surrounded him, one that made the street feel quieter despite the thunder rumbling all over. For the first time since arriving in Givera, Quinn found himself unable to understand what he was looking at. The presence before him had Leon's face, carried Leon's sword, and stood within Leon's body, yet every instinct told him that the person standing there was no longer the same boy he had broken only moments ago.